The people
What they build
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Working at Lipsi
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On the TechVancouver stage
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About
Lipsi let people message each other anonymously. Matthew Segal, who grew up in Vancouver, had the idea as an undergraduate at Yale and built the app with engineers in British Columbia and Ukraine. It worked two ways: search someone by first name, or browse a list of users nearby ordered closest-first. A later "Lipsi Link" feature — the one Segal demoed at TechVancouver in December 2017 — let anyone drop a link in an Instagram bio and collect anonymous replies from followers who had never installed the app; a seven-digit code let the sender continue the conversation inside the app without being identified. On stage Segal described first targeting UBC's Greek system, about 5% of campus, and finding it too small and too self-conscious to spread, then pivoting to the general public. He also described a planned feature connecting users anonymously to registered counsellors, and said the app was branded as a social product first so that mental-health support would be one feature rather than the whole identity. By April 2018 Lipsi was climbing the US App Store charts; Segal later told BCBusiness it had about seven million users. Like the anonymous apps before it, it drew school-safety complaints in the US, and the company partnered with Google's Perspective API to filter abuse. The app is no longer listed on the App Store, though lipsi.ca still serves its old marketing site.
Backers
No outside funding round has been reported; in April 2018 Segal said nothing had been spent on marketing
Quick answers
What was Lipsi?
An anonymous messaging app. You could search a nearby person by first name and open a chat without revealing who you were, browse users around you closest-first, or post a "Lipsi Link" on Instagram and collect anonymous replies from followers who didn't have the app.
Who founded Lipsi?
Matthew Segal, from Vancouver. He came up with the idea as a Yale undergraduate and built the app with software engineers in British Columbia and Ukraine. Alborz Massah led user acquisition and marketing.
How big did it get?
About seven million users across Canada, the US and the UK, with 350,000–400,000 opening it daily, per BCBusiness. In April 2018 Refinery29 reported 50,000–60,000 new members a day and a peak US App Store rank of No. 15.
Is Lipsi still around?
The iOS listing is gone, though lipsi.ca still serves the old marketing site. BCBusiness reported that as of February Segal was talking to several parties interested in buying Lipsi; no sale or shutdown was ever publicly announced.