MessageMe
acquired by YahooSan Francisco, US Β· Founded 2012 Β· 10 known investors
Acquired by Yahoo October 2014 Β· terms undisclosed Β· source β
MessageMe was a mobile messaging application focused on expressive and engaging online communication that was acquired by Yahoo in 2014.
Founders & leadership
MessageMe was founded in 2012 by Arjun Sethi, Justin Rosenthal, Alexander Chee, and Vivek Tatineni.
Board
Investors Β· 10
Also in the syndicate Β· 3
Company profile
researched Aug 2026MessageMe was founded in 2012 in San Francisco by Arjun Sethi, Alexander Chee, Justin Rosenthal, and Vivek Tatineni. Sethi, the CEO, had previously founded the social-gaming company ROFLplay (acquired by Lolapps in 2009) and later served as CEO of Lolapps and then of the merged entity 6waves Lolapps, one of the largest game publishers on Facebook; co-founder Justin Rosenthal also had a background in social gaming. The founding team's stated bet was that experience growing viral social-gaming products would translate into rapid, virally-driven growth for a consumer messaging app.
MessageMe launched on iOS and Android in March 2013, offering free messaging with photos, video, voice notes, hand-drawn doodles, and free/paid sticker packs β arriving at the height of a global 'messaging wars' moment defined by WhatsApp, Kik, GroupMe, and Path in the US, and by Line, WeChat, and KakaoTalk in Asia. Growth was extremely fast: MessageMe reached 1 million users within 10 days of launch and 5 million users within about 75 days (by mid-to-late May 2013). That growth briefly made MessageMe a target of Facebook's platform policy: in March 2013, Facebook cut off MessageMe's access to its 'Find Friends' social-graph API, citing a policy against apps that replicate core Facebook functionality β a decision that internal Facebook emails (later surfaced in litigation and reported by NBC News in 2019) suggested was driven by concern over MessageMe's competitive momentum rather than the stated policy rationale.
On the strength of this early traction, MessageMe raised a $1.9 million seed round (announced March 2013) from investors including First Round Capital, Google Ventures, SV Angel, and Andreessen Horowitz, followed roughly two months later by a $10 million Series A (announced May 17, 2013) led by Greylock Partners, with participation from many of the same seed backers plus True Ventures, Resolut.vc, and Social+Capital Partnership (Social Capital). Greylock partner and former Mozilla CEO John Lilly joined MessageMe's board as part of the Series A. Total disclosed outside funding was about $11.9 million.
Business model
Free consumer messaging app; planned future monetization via premium services and paid/optional sticker packs.
Free app with in-app purchases of premium/paid sticker packs; company had announced plans (at Series A) to build out additional paid premium services before it was acquired.
βΈFull profile β profile (continued), go-to-market, ownership
Profile (continued)
Despite the fast start, MessageMe's growth did not prove durable in the face of intensifying competition from WhatsApp, Snapchat, Kik, and others. On October 3, 2014, Yahoo announced it had acquired MessageMe β an acqui-hire, reportedly for between $30 million and $40 million, that brought MessageMe's small ~8-person team (including CEO Arjun Sethi) into Yahoo. Yahoo, under CEO Marissa Mayer's strategy of acquiring startup talent to reinvigorate legacy products, immediately announced it would shut down the MessageMe app; users could access their accounts and messages only until November 7, 2014, after which all data was deleted. Notably, Yahoo reportedly beat Snapchat to the deal, and MessageMe still had cash in the bank at the time of the sale.
The former MessageMe team, working inside Yahoo under Sethi, went on to build and launch Yahoo Livetext, an audio-free video messaging app, in July 2015, using MessageMe's underlying technology. Livetext failed to gain meaningful traction and was shut down by Yahoo in March 2016, closing out the MessageMe lineage. Sethi later became a partner at Social Capital and, in 2018, co-founded venture firm Tribe Capital, going on to become co-CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
Go-to-market
Consumer smartphone users (iOS and Android) seeking a richer alternative to SMS text messaging.
Ownership
subsidiary (acquired; product later shut down and team absorbed into Yahoo) β parent: Yahoo
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 11
launches, deals, and filingsYahoo discontinued Livetext, the messaging product that grew out of the MessageMe acquisition, closing out the MessageMe lineage.
The former MessageMe team, led by Arjun Sethi inside Yahoo, launched Livetext, an audio-free video messaging app built on MessageMe technology.
MessageMe accounts, messages, and personal information were permanently deleted as the app was fully shut down.
Yahoo acquired MessageMe in an acqui-hire reportedly valued between $30 million and $40 million; the ~8-person team joined Yahoo and the app was slated for shutdown.
MessageMe added sticker packs (free and paid) and camera/photo features to the app.
MessageMe announced it had reached 5 million users within 75 days of launch.
MessageMe announced a $10 million Series A led by Greylock Partners; Greylock partner John Lilly joined the board of directors.
MessageMe raised a $1.9 million seed round from First Round Capital, Google Ventures, SV Angel, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.
Facebook cut off MessageMe's access to its Find Friends / social-graph API, citing policy against apps replicating core Facebook features; later reporting suggested competitive concerns drove the decision.
MessageMe launched publicly and reached 1 million users within 10 days.
Founded in San Francisco by Arjun Sethi, Alexander Chee, Justin Rosenthal, and Vivek Tatineni.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
βΈResearch sources Β· 6
primary sources listed
- MessageMe β shutdown announcementMessageMe (company website) Β· primary/company site
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does MessageMe do?
- Fun, FREE, messaging :)
- Who founded MessageMe?
- MessageMe was founded by Arjun Sethi, Justin Rosenthal, Alexander Chee, Vivek Tatineni in 2012.
- Who are MessageMe's investors?
- MessageMe's investors include Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Resolute Ventures, Social Capital Partnership, SV Angel, True Ventures, Greylock Partners.
- Who acquired MessageMe?
- MessageMe was acquired by Yahoo.
- Where is MessageMe headquartered?
- MessageMe is headquartered in San Francisco, US.