Queer social app Lex acquired by former Musical.ly CEO

Lex, a social and dating app for the LGBTQ+ community, has been acquired by 9count, a mobile app conglomerate specializing in social media.

Lex started as an Instagram page in 2017, inspired by the ads of a woman dating many others. The page became so popular that founder Kell Rakowski added it to the app in 2019. In less than a year, the app raised 1.5 million seeds, and veteran entrepreneur Jennifer Lewis joined as co-founder and CEO.

“Typical social media doesn’t help these people,” Lewis told TechCrunch. According to GLAAD, LGBTQ+ people are twice as likely to experience online harassment, making online spaces for intentionally stupid people all the more necessary. “What I love most about Lex is creating a social media platform where users can meet people who are like them, but also have a safe space where they can fully express themselves.”

Lex users have high standards for the app, as it serves a community that has been neglected and mistreated by traditional social media. Last year, the app was redesigned to emphasize more casual socialization around dating and hookups, which caused some users to worry that Lex was becoming too diluted. As one user told TechCrunch at the time, “There’s no point in promoting ‘social’ use unless you’re trying to discuss another use (ie, sex).”

As Lex joins 9count, users may be concerned about more changes to the app. But Lewis says the move will allow Lex to ship new features faster and increase its capacity to rate content. “We are able to ship new features at almost three times the rate of pre-adoption,” he said.

9count is led by Alex Hofmann, who previously served as CEO of Musical.ly, an app that was acquired by ByteDance and became TikTok. The conglomerate’s most popular app is Wink, another dating and friendship app, but it also runs other apps like Summer, a dating app.

Given his experience with ByteDance, which owns several apps under one corporate umbrella, Hofmann wants 9count to echo that strategy. “We had our first conversation and quickly realized that we shared the same vision,” Hofmann said. “The idea really is that we believe that the future of social media is not, you know, building this one big product, chasing billions of users with ads, and we believe that the future is direct social networks that empower communities.”

According to Lex, the app has been downloaded more than a million times, which is low compared to traditional dating apps – however, Lex targets a small audience, and users send millions of messages per month. Hofmann and Lewis declined to disclose terms of the deal.