14 DAY TRIAL // Ello, the new social network that many consider is going to be the “Facebook killer,” has found a way to attract people even more by vowing to never sell ads to users.
After closing a Series A round of venture capital funding of around $5.5 million (€4.34 million) a month ago, Ello hopes to hire more developers and continue to aspire towards finishing the private beta that is currently keeping many of the prospective users out, Wired reports.
Ello has also become what’s known as a public benefit corporation, which is a novel type of corporate entity that has appeared in more than two dozen US states over the past few years. Basically, the format allows Ello to be immune to future investor pressure to sell ads or data of its user base.
“We’re really creating a way to enshrine Ello, legally, as what we intend it to be. The bottom line is we’re not going to sell out and no one can make us sell out,” Ello’s CEO Paul Budnitz says.
No ads for Ello
The company’s founders and investors have signed a new charter prohibiting the company from profiting off of users’ information. In the event of the company getting sold, it would also force the new owners to comply with the terms, effectively locking up user data.
On the other hand, Ello is open to investments. Aside from the incoming $5.5 million (€4.34 million) in venture funding from Foundry Group, Bullet Time Ventures, and FreshTrack Capital, the company has received a $450,000 (€355,734) investment.
However, investors may not be too eager to starting throwing cash at Ello considering that they’re not going to get a real return on their money. At the same time, the public benefit corporation status gives Ello’s board of directors the right to keep ads well away from the platform.
In the past two months, Ello has turned, from a community of under 100 people, into a phenomenon that has attracted more than 1 million people to sign up and another three million to sit patiently in the waiting line to join up. That’s an extraordinary growth rate for any platform, including a social network.
Hopefully, however, their plans to add more staff to the team of 14 will bring the much-needed upgrades to the site’s design that so many are complaining about. The slow loading is also annoying people who are already used to a more fast-paced social network.