Social network Bluesky is set for significant developments following the announcement of a $100 million Series B funding round, led by Bain Capital Crypto, which was finalised in April 2025 but revealed just recently. The funding was supported by existing investors such as Alumni Ventures and True Ventures, alongside new contributors including Anthos Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and Knight Foundation. This latest influx of capital comes after Bluesky raised $15 million in a Series A round in 2024 and an $8 million seed round from Neo and other angel investors.
This announcement comes in the wake of Bluesky CEO Jay Graber’s recent decision to step down as leader, assuming the role of chief innovation officer instead. This transition indicates her aim to focus on innovation while signalling the need for new leadership to steer Bluesky toward commercial success.
Since its Series A funding, Bluesky’s user base has skyrocketed from 13 million to over 43 million globally. The ecosystem of applications leveraging the AT Protocol has expanded notably, featuring emerging platforms such as Skylight and Flashes, alongside established entities like Flipboard, which is developing its own social app called Surf. Additionally, new communities have formed, such as Blacksky, catering specifically to Black social media users.
While the involvement of a cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm might raise questions among users—especially as Bluesky has yet to incorporate any cryptocurrency features—the platform is not built on blockchain technology. Nonetheless, Graber’s previous experience with Zcash influenced the social network’s decentralised model, which continues to attract interest from the cryptocurrency investment sphere.
As Graber previously articulated, the concept of Web3 has often been conflated with cryptocurrency, yet she posits that Bluesky aims to enhance social media from its centralized roots into an open, distributed framework.
The new funding will aid in scaling Bluesky’s teamwhile it progresses with the development of both the application and the ATProto technology that underpins its operations. This technology now supports a diverse array of applications within the broader open social ecosystem termed Atmosphere, which currently holds roughly 20 billion public records encompassing various interactions.
Interest in ATProto’s development is evident, with Bluesky reporting over 400,000 monthly downloads of its developer tools and noting that users engage with over a thousand applications built on ATProto each week. As Bluesky continues to evolve, it appears well-positioned to shape the future of social networking.
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