It has been over a year since tech mogul Elon Musk made headlines by acquiring Twitter. His monumental purchase has had a far-reaching impact, even on newer social media platforms that have recently emerged. For example, Spill, a platform founded by former Twitter employees, is now marking its first year on the market by opening up its beta testing to all users, regardless of their device of choice.
Spill is essentially the antithesis of platform X, the notorious app that consistently alienates its user base through exclusionary policies. Unlike X, Spill places a high value on diversity and inclusivity from the very beginning. The founders, who connected while working at Twitter, were compelled to create a space where marginalized communities, such as Black and brown individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other underrepresented groups, could thrive without having to constantly fight for visibility.
“On every other platform, culture drivers – Black and brown folks, marginalized folks, queer folks – have had to kind of elbow to create space,” explained Kenya Parham, Spill’s VP of Community and Partnerships, in a previous conversation with TechCrunch. “We’re starting off with them at the front of the line, and we think that’s going to create a really healthy ecosystem.”
Spill has a sleek and user-friendly interface that combines elements from popular platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. Users can follow each other and scroll through their personalized feeds, but the focus is on sharing multimedia content. In addition, Spill recently unveiled its exciting new feature, “Tea Party,” which enables live audio and video conversations. The inaugural Tea Party was hosted by actress and bestselling author, Kerry Washington, who opened up about her latest memoir.
As Spill CEO Alphonzo Terrell approaches the one-year mark of his layoff from Twitter, he proudly shares that the app has already gained a following of around 200,000 users. Moreover, they have managed to raise a whopping $5 million in pre-seed funding, including a recent $2 million extension led by Collide Capital.
Admittedly, Spill may not be growing at the same rapid pace as other Twitter competitors like Bluesky, Mastodon, or Threads. However, Terrell is not fazed.
“People are looking for something new,” Terrell confidently stated to TechCrunch last month. “I think things that have really defined, unique value propositions are going to win over the long term – it might not be like there’s one winner-take-all.”
