The renowned online party planning platform Punchbowl is expanding its horizons by rebranding itself as Sincere Corporation and acquiring the once-popular personal memory capsule app, Timehop. Despite waning relevance, Timehop will continue to operate in the memory space under Sincere's umbrella, with several Timehop employees, including former CEO Matt Raoul, making the transition to the new parent company.
Timehop, which made waves a decade ago by showcasing user photo memories from various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Photos, and Dropbox, secured over $14 million in funding from prominent investors. The platform's unique "today in your history" feature inspired Facebook to create its own version, called "On This Day," and prompted Google to introduce the "Rediscover This Day" feature for Google Photos. However, the app's popularity has waned over the years, reaching a low point after a major data breach in 2018.
Despite the challenges faced by Timehop, millions of people still open the app daily, according to Punchbowl founder and CEO Matt Douglas. Data.ai reports that Timehop downloads peaked in 2014 with 13.5 million downloads, but in 2021, only 140,000 downloads were recorded. The US accounted for 63% of the global share of downloads, followed by the UK with 22%. Another analytics firm, Sensor Tower, corroborated the decline in Timehop's user base, revealing an 80% drop in monthly active users between May 2016 and May 2023.
In light of the Timehop acquisition and the successful acquisition of VidHug, now Memento, in 2021, Punchbowl sought to establish a parent brand that encapsulates its focus on creating memories, hence the rebranding to Sincere Corporation. Moving forward, Sincere Corporation plans to introduce subscription plans for Timehop, potentially offering perks such as ad removal for paying users. Additionally, Sincere is launching a foundation to donate to various causes and investing approximately $500,000 in BookClubs, a platform that assists users in creating and managing book clubs.
In conclusion, the acquisition of Timehop by Sincere Corporation marks a new chapter for the memory app and the party planning platform. By integrating Timehop into its lineup alongside Memento, Sincere Corporation is expanding its reach in the digital memory space and providing a fresh start for the once-popular app. The combination of these platforms under Sincere's umbrella offers exciting opportunities for growth and continued innovation in the realm of memory curation and sharing.