
Secret
Founded Year
2013Stage
Dead | DeadTotal Raised
$35.03MMissing: Secret's Product Demo & Case Studies
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Research containing Secret
Get data-driven expert analysis from the CB Insights Intelligence Unit.
CB Insights Intelligence Analysts have mentioned Secret in 1 CB Insights research brief, most recently on Jan 23, 2023.

Jan 23, 2023
442 startup failure post-mortemsSecret Patents
Secret has filed 10 patents.
The 3 most popular patent topics include:
- Cryptographic protocols
- Cryptography
- Key management

Application Date | Grant Date | Title | Related Topics | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
4/11/2019 | 2/28/2023 | Cryptography, Key management, Cryptographic protocols, Modern cryptographers, Public key infrastructure | Grant |
Application Date | 4/11/2019 |
---|---|
Grant Date | 2/28/2023 |
Title | |
Related Topics | Cryptography, Key management, Cryptographic protocols, Modern cryptographers, Public key infrastructure |
Status | Grant |
Latest Secret News
Aug 22, 2014
August 22, 2014 4:35 pm August 22, 2014 4:51 pm Photo Secret said it was increasing its protections against people posting people’s names or other personal information.Credit What would you say if no one knew you were the one saying it? In the case of Secret, the anonymous social app many in Silicon Valley love to hate , a lot of that chatter hasn’t been so kind. People using Secret can post messages and photos from their smartphones to their networks of loosely connected friends, all through a veil of anonymity. And since January, when the app was released, some users have posted vitriolic, personal attacks against specific people — an activity that seems to happen more often when you can say anything without fear of retaliation. On Friday Secret announced plans to invest heavily in making the network a more pleasant place to visit. The company said it would actively block a post if the company detected that someone’s real name had been used in the post. Secret said it had also improved its ability to detect negative sentiment and keywords, as well as photos of specific people, which can be reviewed to make sure the posts do not violate the company’s community guidelines. Technology entrepreneurs like Dave Morin, chief executive of Path , and Ben Parr, a former blogger for the media start-up Mashable, were constant targets of personal attacks from anonymous naysayers when Secret was first introduced. Later, as Secret became more popular, misogynistic and racist remarks appeared with more frequency on the app. Pictures containing nudity have occasionally appeared as well. For David Byttow and Chrys Bader, Secret’s co-founders, the goal of the app isn’t to create an anonymous shooting gallery. Ultimately, the two would like the app to be a place people visit because of its flourishing, connected mobile community, one free from the strictures of identity. “We’ve learned several invaluable lessons about the great use cases of our platform, as well as the realities of unwanted behavior that can hurt our community,” the company said in a blog post on Friday. “We believe these improvements will move us along in our journey to help the world safely express what we’re really thinking and feeling.” Anonymous communication has quickly become a hot trend in Silicon Valley. Besides Secret, apps like Whisper and Wut riff on anonymous communication methods. Websites like Reddit and Twitter give you the option to use a handle instead of your real name. And even Facebook, the huge social identity network, is toying with ways to incorporate anonymity into its products. Of course, Secret’s viability as an anonymous communication tool could quickly evaporate if it can’t protect anonymity. On Friday, Wired published an article detailing how two security experts unmasked the identities of some users on Secret. “User data has never been compromised in any hacker exploit, including the hack that Wired reported on today,” the company said in a statement. The hole in Secret’s system was reported to the company as part of its “bug bounty program,” a practice Facebook, Twitter and other tech companies have, in which hackers who find exploits in code can report them to the company for a reward. But the changes announced on Friday raise another question, too: Can Secret keep users returning to the app if the company places more restrictions on the types of content people are allowed to post? Perhaps Mr. Byttow and Mr. Bader should ask Twitter, which is facing its own similar problem at the moment .
Secret Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
When was Secret founded?
Secret was founded in 2013.
Where is Secret's headquarters?
Secret's headquarters is located at 301 Bryant, San Francisco.
What is Secret's latest funding round?
Secret's latest funding round is Dead.
How much did Secret raise?
Secret raised a total of $35.03M.
Who are the investors of Secret?
Investors of Secret include Alexis Ohanian, Fuel Capital, SV Angel, Garry Tan, Index Ventures and 15 more.
Who are Secret's competitors?
Competitors of Secret include Yik Yak and 6 more.
Compare Secret to Competitors
WhisperText is the developer of the Whisper, an anonymous social network that lets people share confessions, express themselves, and meet new people.

Wickr offers free worldwide text, audio, picture, and video messages that self-destruct by being private, secure, and anonymous. On June 25, 2021, Wickr was acquired by Amazon Web Services. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Radical App is the developer of Dust, the safer place to text. Dust combines the ease of a text with the safety of a private phone call. Messages on Dust can never be recovered. Unlike standard text messaging where everything you say is stored on phones or servers, Dust conversations are heavily encrypted and not accessible by anyone, not even us.

Sendbird is a mobile engagement and communication platform that allows any company to quickly and easily embed rich real-time chat, voice, and video into their app to build connections with their users and between their users. With Sendbird customers can get access to the benefits of chat, voice, video quickly and with significantly less development effort or risk if they were to build it or maintain it themselves.

Salt Communications provides a solution for encrypted communications between mobile devices with full, centralized control for the enterprise.

Friendsy provides an app that allows students to chat anonymously and make friendly and romantic matches when feelings are mutual. It operates a private network of only verified college students with .edu email addresses, which gives students assurance that they are communicating with their peers.
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