The future of BeReal is uncertain.
Growth at the buzzy social media app has stalled, according to three people familiar with the company’s operations.
Based in Paris and founded by former GoPro employees Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau in 2020 amid the Covid pandemic, the app became famous for allowing users to take selfies twice a day. It caught on, with users posting the bizarre and banal of their daily lives when prompted. It was hailed as a social media alternative to the curated lives seen on Instagram.
Leaders of BeReal are now weighing their options as continued growth proves difficult, the people familiar said. The company is considering raising a Series C before what’s left of its $90 million in funding runs out. It faces what is said to be relatively tepid investor interest or being acquired, the people familiar told Business Insider.
BeReal’s users stand at about 25 million daily active users and 40 million monthly active users, according to all three people familiar, who are also privy to internal metrics. The company did not respond to emails seeking comment.
While those numbers show some growth since 2022, when the app said it had 20 million DAUs, it is the same size user base BeReal said it had last year. In addition to the app’s core features, the company has added new features in a bid to increase user numbers in recent months, like official accounts, groups, messaging, and the ability to add video, which has driven up some usage rates. Such features have yet to meaningfully move the growth needle.
Japan has been a bright spot for new users and engagement, one of the people familiar said, as BeReal gains some traction in the Asia-Pacific region.
Social media is a competitive industry, and while a few new entrants gained steam during the pandemic, like Clubhouse and Gas, they have quickly deflated. Clubhouse is limping along after receiving a massive $4 billion valuation three years ago, while Gas was acquired by Discord and not long after shut down. Even established players like Snapchat are still struggling to bounce back from a post-pandemic drop in growth.
Nonetheless, a faster pace of releasing new features is a priority for BeReal leadership, in part to help drive investor interest in a potential Series C, two of the people familiar said. One of the people noted that the company is looking to soon hire a small number of engineers to help deliver even more new features. If BeReal goes the funding route, it’s possible it will do so at a lower valuation, known as a down round.
BeReal closed a $60 million Series B funding round at an around $600 million valuation in late 2022, following a $30 million Series A earlier the same year. The funding, first reported by Business Insider, saw the startup add major funds, including Yuri Milner’s DST Global and Coatue, to existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Accel.
That roughly $90 million of fundraising is poised to run out later this year, the people familiar said.
In an all-hands meeting in February, during which CEO Barreyat, COO Romain Salzman, and other executives answered employee questions, employees were told BeReal had about 10 months of runway left.
Sooner than later, BeReal leadership will be forced to choose between raising another round and maintaining its independence or selling itself outright, running the risk of disappearing.
BeReal has struggled to attract investor interest for a Series C, two sources familiar with the company said. They cited the stagnant user numbers and a wider slowdown in the European growth funding market. Although BeReal has kept its head count at 60 employees, its burn rate, or the speed at which it spends money, is seen by potential investors as high, namely because of its server costs, the people said.
While leadership is typically transparent with employees, the people familiar said, nothing has been shared internally in recent months about BeReal’s current valuation. Company leadership holds an all-hands every quarter after they meet with the company’s board, which includes investors.
As for the possibility of an acquisition, BeReal leadership has told employees there are “offers” that have been made, without giving any specifics. All that was shared internally on that front was, “We’re talking to some of the biggest tech companies in the world,” according to one of the people familiar.
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Contact Callum Burroughs cburroughs@businessinsider.com.
