Yope, a social app built around private groups rather than public feeds, announced in July 2026 that it has raised $12.3 million in seed funding to expand its platform and open a U.S. office.
The round was led by Northzone — the venture firm that previously backed Spotify and Klarna — with participation from Inovo, Redseed, and Geek Ventures. The new funding brings Yope’s total raised to $20 million.
The London-based startup was co-founded by CEO Bahram Ismailau and Paul Rudkouski. The app, which has been in its current form for roughly two years, operates without algorithmic feeds, advertising, or public content. Accounts are private by default, and the company’s revenue model is built around a premium subscription tier rather than ads.
Ismailau said the concept emerged after the team conducted more than 100,000 interviews — assisted by AI tools — to understand how young people use social networks. They found roughly 30% of users were already maintaining private “photo dump” accounts to share candid content with a small circle of real-life friends, while many others avoided public sharing entirely.
On Yope, users build personal profiles using photos that can be converted into stickers and displayed in a collage-style layout. The app includes in-app messaging, AI-generated recaps of top moments, and lock screen widgets showing friends’ photos. AI-powered mini-games are expected to launch within about a month, and the company says it plans to use AI to help users coordinate real-world meetups.
Yope currently has nearly 15 million registered users who collectively share between 10 million and 20 million pieces of content weekly. Ismailau says more than 50% of active users open the app at least five days per week, and around 20% of active users have invited an older family member to join.
The funding will go toward product development, expanding the team — currently around 35 people — and establishing a U.S. office. Yope is available as a free download on iOS and Android.
Source: TechCrunch