Bluesky, the social network known for its decentralized approach, is preparing for significant changes following the announcement of a $100 million Series B funding round, which was led by Bain Capital Crypto and concluded in April 2025. This financial boost comes after an earlier $15 million Series A round concluded in 2024 and an $8 million seed round the year before.
Several notable investors participated in the latest funding round, including existing backers Alumni Ventures and True Ventures, along with newcomers Anthos Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and Knight Foundation. While Bluesky has yet to reveal its current valuation, the company’s rapid growth is evident, having expanded its user base from 13 million to over 43 million globally since the Series A round.
The announcement of the funding follows last week’s leadership change, where CEO Jay Graber stepped down from her position to assume the role of chief innovation officer. This move was interpreted as a desire for Graber to refocus on product development, while also indicating the need for a new leader to steer Bluesky toward commercial viability.
The nature of Bluesky’s platform, which operates on the AT Protocol—often referred to as ATProto—has allowed for the emergence of a diverse ecosystem of applications. This includes startups like the video-sharing platform Skylight and an Instagram alternative named Flashes, as well as larger entities like Flipboard, which is developing the open social app Surf. Additionally, new communities have surfaced, such as Blacksky, focusing on supporting Black users in the social media landscape.
The inclusion of a crypto-centric venture capital firm may raise questions among Bluesky’s user base, particularly since the platform has not yet adopted cryptocurrency or blockchain technology in its operations. Nevertheless, former CEO Graber’s involvement with the cryptocurrency Zcash played a part in shaping the social network’s decentralized framework, making it appealing to investors in that field.
Graber articulated in a past interview that she prefers to distance Bluesky from the traditional definitions of Web3, associating it primarily with cryptocurrency. Instead, she emphasized its goal of transforming social media from centralized corporations into an open and distributed model.
The newly acquired funds are earmarked for scaling Bluesky’s team and further developing both its app and the supporting ATProto infrastructure. Recent reports indicate a thriving open social ecosystem known as the Atmosphere, which now hosts around 20 billion public records encompassing posts, likes, comments, and interactions.
The developer community is also witnessing growth, with Bluesky reporting over 400,000 monthly downloads of its developer tools (SDK). Moreover, the platform boasts more than a thousand applications built on ATProto that are actively engaged with users each week, highlighting a vibrant and expanding digital environment.
