Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, newsletters, etc. – the number of disparate platforms that we are engaging with to consume new content seems never-ending. River, a content discovery platform, encompasses all mediums to organize everything people are talking about online into bite-sized, shareable stories in real-time. River ensures that its community is fully anonymous, allowing users to discover new information and different perspectives than they may normally be exposed to through their own networks. In addition, River’s has built an app called Overflow that enables users to easily record video reactions to any online resource that can then be shared.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Jeremy Fisher to learn more about the team behind River, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $10.4M over two rounds.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised Series A round – $6M. Notable investors include Founders Fund, .406 Ventures, Box Group, Scooter Braun, Josh Kushner from Thrive, and Raised in Space.
Tell us about the product or service that River offers.
River is a content discovery platform that distills the internet. River instantly organizes everything people are talking about online–from sports to science, in the Times and on Twitter–into a personalized stream of bite-sized, shareable stories that get better as you use it.
Leveraging cutting-edge content understanding (what’s it about, who created it, how does it fit into the broader landscape) and personalization technology, River works without requiring user accounts, friending, following, or access to past online activity, allowing users to preserve anonymity, escape their bubble, and discover a broad range of perspective
What inspired the start of River?
Our founding team has been building technology companies in New York for more than a decade. Prior to River, my company Wander pioneered the 24-hour sharing format called Days, which we now know as Stories.
We had been discussing the future of Stories and content discovery for a long time. As a team, we realized there was an opportunity to reimagine how we discover content. Along with Lev Brie (CTO, previously founder of a contextual algorithm company), Leland Maschmeyer (Head of Design, previously co-founder of the design consultancy, Collins, responsible for global rebrands of Instagram, Spotify, and Dropbox, among others), and the rest of our incredible team, we’ve built a platform and technology from the ground up that makes discovery instant, anonymous, and personalized.
How is River different?
River works without requiring user accounts, connection to a social graph, or access to past online activity. It’s also the first platform that includes, and is able to evaluate across, disparate types of content (e.g. tweets, websites, YouTube videos) and publishers (e.g. professional media, independent journalists, user-generated content), which means we can give every angle on every story. Our users preserve anonymity, escape their bubble, and discover a much broader range of topics and credible perspectives than in similar apps.
What market does River target and how big is it?
We’re starting with the consumer market for real-time information, which is enormous.
What’s your business model?
At the moment, we’re exclusively focused on building great technology and an amazing user experience.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
New patterns in online sharing precipitated by COVID-19 inspired us to build an entirely new product called Overflow. Overflow lets users interactively (e.g. scrolling, playing, highlighting, navigating) record any online resource, from ESPN highlights to Reddit posts, along with a selfie video reaction to it. Users can then share their reaction to any network–from TikTok to Stories to Messages–as well as to our own internal feed of reactions.
What was the funding process like?
We raised money with the goal of creating a completely new experience around content discovery. We’ve been able to assemble a world-class team, pioneer new technology, and build an extraordinary experience in a short period of time. We’re thankful for the partnership and support of our investors who believe in our vision for what discovery should look like.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Relationships are more important now than they’ve ever been, so we’re fortunate to have been at this for a long time and to have built extremely strong relationships.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The ways we consume information online now are broken. We have a solution, and our investors agreed.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Our current focus is to continue building our core technology, iterating on our user experience, and hiring across various departments.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
The greatest opportunities emerge during periods of disruption.
The greatest opportunities emerge during periods of disruption.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
River will increasingly become the place you heard it first.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC
The Four Horsemen.
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