Blend.LA Raises $2.7M To Build A New Social Network For College Students

Remember when Facebook was that cool social network that all your friends were talking about? Maybe you do, or, if you’re in college now Facebook is just the norm and Blend is the cool social network that your friends are talking about, over Snapchat of course.

blend-la

The network works a lot more like Instagram than Facebook but college has changed a lot since Facebook launched, namely, every student now has a smartphone with a high-quality camera in their pocket. Blend is all about sharing photos and getting “Snaps” essentially a virtual thumbs up for an awesome photo.

Blend has done a great job of engaging brands from the beginning and already has partners like Uber, Chegg, Rowdy Gentlemen, Alex and Ani and more. Users can win cool things from brand sponsors, usually in return for competing in a photo contest with other users.

The company is currently branding on Blend.la and with 50,000 active users every a day and a higher daily and monthly engagement rate than Pinterest it’s clear that being on a .LA is not holding it back at all. I think this is another great example of why app makers need to worry a lot less about having a .COM because it’s 2014 and if you’re just thinking about the “World Wide Web” you’re missing the fastest growing part of the Internet ecosystem.

Hats off to Blend for innovating and obviously doing something that users love. With the new funding I’m sure they’ll continue to see strong growth. Any MorganLinton.com readers who are in college and currently using Blend? I’d love to hear what you think!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton