MessageMe
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Instant messaging |
| Founded | January 1, 2012 |
| Founder | Arjun Sethi, Alexander Chee, Justin Rosenthal, Vivek Tatineni |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
| Products | Messaging app for iPhone and Android |
| Parent | Yahoo (acquired 2014) |
MessageMe was a messaging app designed for iPhone and Android platforms, introduced in March 2013 and rapidly expanding to 5 million users within just three months. The application supported sending videos, photos, stickers, voice recordings, and text messages.
In 2014, Yahoo purchased and subsequently discontinued the app, with the acquisition reportedly valued between $30 million and $40 million.
History
Established in 2012 by Arjun Sethi, Alexander Chee, Justin Rosenthal, and Vivek Tatineni in San Francisco, California, MessageMe raised $1.9 million in seed funding from investors such as First Round Capital, Google Ventures, SV Angel, and Andreessen Horowitz.
After launching on both iOS and Android in March 2013, MessageMe achieved 1 million users within ten days. By May 2013, the company secured a $10 million Series A round led by Greylock Partners, with partner John Lilly joining its board. The user base grew to 5 million just 75 days after release.
Controversy
Soon after its March 2013 launch, MessageMe lost access to Facebook’s "Find Friends" feature on the Facebook Platform, which had allowed users to locate their Facebook contacts within MessageMe. Facebook cited its policy prohibiting developers from duplicating core Facebook functionalities without authorization as the reason for this action. Internal leaks revealed Facebook's apprehension regarding MessageMe’s swift user growth and its competition with Facebook’s own messaging service.
In an internal email from March 2013, Justin Osofsky, then director of platform partnerships at Facebook, remarked:
The debate over Facebook’s use of platform data to restrict competitors like MessageMe, Vine, and Voxer resurfaced during the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. While limiting rival access to data, Facebook simultaneously provided private user information to strategic partners including Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify.
Facebook formally ended the platform policy responsible for revoking MessageMe’s access in December 2018.
Features
Together with apps like WhatsApp, Kik, and others, MessageMe contributed to transitioning the U.S. mobile messaging landscape away from basic SMS toward more enriched communication methods such as audio clips, video sharing, doodles, stickers, and location sharing. This evolution was initially driven worldwide by startups including WeChat in China, Line in Japan, and KakaoTalk in Korea.
Messaging platforms such as MessageMe, Path, and Lango were among the first to introduce stickers into the American market, taking inspiration from Line’s success with stickers across Asia. MessageMe provided both complimentary and purchasable sticker packs within its app.
Acquisition
In October 2014, Yahoo acquired MessageMe for a sum estimated between $30 million and $40 million. Other interested parties reportedly included Snapchat and Truecaller. This acquisition aligned with CEO Marissa Mayer's approach of rejuvenating Yahoo by acquiring startups primarily for their talent rather than their products; often resulting in shutting down acquired applications while integrating teams into existing Yahoo initiatives.
By July 2015, Yahoo had launched its first internally developed mobile messaging app called Livetext, created by the former MessageMe team utilizing MessageMe’s technology. However, Yahoo discontinued Livetext in March 2016.