Primal Launches New Social Network for Digital Freedom

The application leverages open-source communication protocols to give users more digital agency

NASHVILLE, July 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Primal, a technology company leveraging open-source communication protocols to give users back agency online, announced the launch of its flagship application following a $1M seed round led by Ten31 with participation from Hivemind, and others. Built on the Nostr protocol, Primal is a social media application designed for complete freedom of expression without the risk of de-platforming.

The launch of Primal comes at a pivotal moment when new players are entering the space to challenge legacy social media platforms, and more venture capital funds are being directed toward the development of open-source ecosystems like Nostr.

Beyond its flagship application, Primal builds scaling infrastructure and discovery services for Nostr. Primal is the first Nostr company to open source its entire product stack including its caching and discovery service, Primal Server, as well as, its web, iOS, and Android apps. Its powerful discovery features including search, trending content, and analytics, make primal.net the go-to destination for people who wish to explore Nostr. With this seed round, Primal will focus on accelerating the development of an immersive user experience in a burgeoning Nostr ecosystem.

"We are building Primal to offer an alternative to closed social media platforms", said Miljan Braticevic, CEO of Primal. "With Nostr, we now have an open publishing protocol with a monetary network attached to it in the form of zaps - bitcoin lightning micropayments. This combination will change everything. We are proud to partner with investors like Ten31 and Hivemind, who are already able to see this future and are willing to fund startups like Primal to build it."

"Nostr is a robust, decentralized, and open communication protocol that will revolutionize the way we communicate online", said Matt Odell, managing partner at Ten31. "Now more than ever, users value privacy and freedom of expression, and we are proud to support Primal's mission of making this protocol accessible to billions of people around the world."

With Primal, users can pay each other bitcoin "zaps" through the app by clicking the lightning bolt button on posts they appreciate. Primal also uses this information for its discovery feature. Posts that receive more bitcoin are featured in their trending lists.

Primal is currently fully available on the Web. Primal for iOS is currently available in beta via TestFlight, with a release for Android planned in the future. To learn more about Primal, visit www.primal.net. To learn more about Nostr, visit https://nostr.com/.

About Primal
Primal is a Canadian social media company focusing on building on open protocols like Nostr and Bitcoin.

About Ten31
Ten31 is the leading platform investing in companies building infrastructure and technology in the Bitcoin ecosystem. With a footprint in Nashville and Austin, Ten31 seeks to support the ecosystem's most promising founders and companies, leveraging its deep understanding of Bitcoin, extensive experience, and broad reach to create value for its partners. Since the fund's inception, Ten31 has directed more than $100 million in equity to companies building on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. For more information, visit www.ten31.vc

Contact
Inkhouse for Ten31
[email protected]

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SOURCE Ten31