Not every start-up story features a meteoric rise that reaches the stars. Launched around 16 months back, anonymous messaging app Secret is shutting down. CEO David Byttow announced on his Twitter account:
However, the reason behind this occurrence is not related to debt or an inability to generate follow-up funding. In fact, worth at $35 million, Secret’s shutdown is not related to money at all. Byttow spoke in his blog about how the app does not showcase his initial vision anymore and how he will plan to return the remaining funds to the investors.
Last July, the company successfully raised $25 million. In August, Secret reached its peak in popularity as it reached no.11 in the social-networking app category in Apple’s App Store. However, its popularity soon dipped due to design changes and co-founder Chrys Bader left the company in January. Following Bader’s departure, some of the company’s leading engineers chose to leave as well.
Secret had been raising eyebrows since quite some time. While there were regular users who used the platform to disclose confessions, there was a large population that indulged in cyber-bulling by targeting others. Insiders say that the company was not able to foresee the amount of negative content that flowed in.
