Observant of the many challenges now confronting Facebook and seeking to exploit user dissatisfaction, MeWE, a disruptive Facebook alternative, is positioning itself to offer a better user experience. The new social integrated network and chat app specifically touts the absence of ads, spyware, content manipulation, facial recognition and Russian influence. Their just completed $5.2 million Series A round follows on the investments of a group of high net worth individuals, bringing total funding to $10 million.
Early investors include Lynda Weinman, who exited her online learning company Lynda.com for $1.5 billion via its sale to LinkedIn; Marci Shimoff, a NY Times bestselling author and expert on success; highly branded and activist for change Rachel Roy, and Jack Canfield, known for his Chicken Soup for the Soul® series.
“While Facebook is mired in scandals, fines and breaches, MeWe has been registering thousands of new members each day, growing 25% per month,” said MeWe founder and CEO, Mark Weinstein in a press statement. “It is clear that the world wants a better social network.”
Funds will be used to support the engineering of MeWe and the enterprise version MeWePRO. The platform will give members total control over what they share along with full ownership of their content and data. MeWe also assures users that there will be no interference, allowing them to “see every post, chat, comment, etc., made by individuals and groups they are connected to, in true timeline order.” It will be “free forever”, via a robust freemium revenue model, while also having an enterprise revenue model called MeWePRO.
Features include: private 1:1 and group chat; private and open groups; disappearing content; custom camera with Gif creation; live voice and live video; next-gen voice messaging; secret chat with double-ratchet encryption; personal social cloud; custom group profiles. It is available worldwide in 8 languages on Android, iOS, and Desktop.
