Togethera, the private photo and messaging platform aimed at families and close friendship groups has successfully closed a GBP220,000 crowd-funding round with Crowdcube.
The app – started by TrustedPlaces founder, Sokratis Papafloratos and former Facebook staffer Matt Dempsey – has seen a surge in sign-ups over the last year as users look for alternatives to other platforms seen increasingly as either insecure or simply cluttered and invasive.

Togethera is used by families and close-knit friendship groups looking for a private space online and on mobile where they can share photos, videos and updates without the worry of who's looking at their posts, or the hassle of avoiding adverts or irrelevant content. The site's simplicity and easy user experience has also opened up photo sharing and social networking to a generation of silver surfers previously alienated by other similar platforms. Over 60 per cent of Togethera reviews across iOS and Android state that the app has brought their wider family together online for the first time.

The site's paid-for premium subscription has also witnessed high-growth since being trialled earlier this year. The success of Togethera Premium reflects the company's belief that the social networking market is witnessing a step change with users becoming increasingly willing to hand over their money rather than their privacy in return for the use of a clean, high-quality app.

Togethera does not feature any advertising across the platform and does not share or sell user data. The platform is also entirely private, meaning users or their posts are not searchable or viewable by people outside of the app or outside of their individual group.

The funding will be used primarily for product development to enhance the offering to its 50,000-plus users and specifically the rapidly increasing number of premium users paying to use the service. Togethera already boasts superior photo and video upload speeds compared to its peers in the market with users also able to post more than double the amount of photos at one time than on Facebook. In addition to the online offering and high-res photo printing, later this year, users will be able to subscribe to have automatically-generated photo albums delivered directly to their door.

Togethera Co-Founder Sokratis Papafloratos says: “We weren't interested in aggressively expanding from day one. Too many social networks have quickly boomed, raking in users but then quickly going bust once the hype disappeared. We wanted to focus on providing our first users with an ultra-simple, ultra-private network where they could keep in touch with close friends and family and share photos easily. We believe we've achieved that and we're now experiencing the kind of demand we suspected would come if we got the app right.

“Togethera is not competing with Facebook, Pinterest or the other big players in the market. We are supporting families, friendship groups, and those that want a private space to communicate and share photo and video content. These groups don't want to be bombarded with adverts or posts from people they hardly know – they want to instantly see and comment on a photo of their granddaughter from the weekend bbq or a happy birthday video-message from their best friend in Australia. Nothing else."
Martijn de Wever (pictured) of Force Over Mass Capital, says: “Togethera’s growth over the last year has been phenomenal but it’s the enthusiasm and loyalty shown by the established users, which is the real sign of solid success. As with all our investment decisions, the team was also a key factor. Sokratis, Matt and the team around them have the perfect mix of experience, skill and drive to make Togethera a huge success and we’re excited to be working with them.
“Finally, the market is huge and is growing fast. Photo sharing and messaging are two of the hottest spaces in consumer tech and increasing privacy concerns make the timing ideal for an idea like Togethera.”
