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Yik Yak co-founders Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington published a farewell note<\/a> to users on Friday, announcing they would shut down their\u00a0once-popular\u00a0anonymous social network this week. The app allowed people to connect with other users within a certain radius, and was widely marketed in\u00a0and used on college campuses.<\/p>\n According to an SEC filing<\/a> issued on April 16th, Square, has agreed to hire\u00a0several of Yik Yak\u2019s employees and acquire a non-exclusive license to some of the company\u2019s\u00a0intellectual property for\u00a0$1 million. That\u2019s a deeply disappointing\u00a0result for a startup\u00a0that garnered lots of\u00a0support from venture investors and users.<\/p>\n According to Crunchbase<\/a>, Yik Yak had raised $73.4 million in venture funding since it was founded in 2013, with a valuation approaching $400 million<\/a> in 2014, its halcyon days.<\/p>\n The app faced problems that were predictable for any forum offering users anonymity and a means of chatting with one another. It was plagued by\u00a0cyberbullies of every kind and even\u00a0banned by some schools.\u00a0<\/a>But all the capital and advice in the world couldn\u2019t help it maintain its buzz.<\/p>\n In 2015, Yik Yak\u00a0had to admit to users that they were only masked from each other, not\u00a0police officers or other authorities with a warrant. And then in 2016, security researchers<\/a> with NYU, led by computer scientist and professor\u00a0Keith Ross, found\u00a0other ways to hack users\u2019 personally identifiable information out of Yik Yak. Around the same time, their CTO bailed.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n All the while, cyberbullies and unsavory content\u00a0drove down the app experience for others.\u00a0By the end of 2016, user downloads had declined 76 percent versus the same period in 2015, as TechCrunch reported then<\/a>, and the company began laying off most of its employees.<\/p>\n In their note, the co-founders reflected on happier accomplishments by their now-faded startup.\u00a0Yik Yak is not the first anonymous chat app to hit the deadpool. Secret<\/a> also went out of business in 2015. And the company won\u2019t be leaving a hole in the market, exactly.<\/p>\n Other chat apps, including anonymous, semi-anonymous and ephemeral options among them, abound. Yik Yak competitors still in business include: Whisper<\/a>, the\u00a0anonymous chat and sharing app; Kik<\/a>,\u00a0which only requires usernames;\u00a0Blind<\/a>, the anonymous workplace chat app where Uber employees<\/a> have recently aired grievances;\u00a0and 7 Cups<\/a>,\u00a0where people can go for \u201cactive, non-judgemental listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/02\/yik-yak-hive.png?w=680\")
Yik Yak co-founders Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington published a farewell note to users on Friday, announcing they would shut down their once-popular anonymous social network this week. The app allowed people to connect with other users within a certain radius, and was widely marketed in and used on college campuses. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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