附近上门

If you鈥檙e part of Generation Z or spent some time on Tech Twitter over the weekend, you鈥檝e probably heard of at this point.

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The app, which has been around for more than a year, became the subject of discussion and scramble for invites after rolling out an invite-only test version last week.聽

Because we care (really, we actually do care), we thought we鈥檇 break down Dispo and tell you why it matters.

The basics

Dispo is an app founded by YouTuber and social media personality Dobrik鈥檚 known for leading The Vlog Squad on YouTube, and founded Dispo in late 2019.聽

The app was previously known as David鈥檚 Disposables, according to , and is essentially a camera app that acts like a disposable camera and produces retro-looking photos. Users take a photo and have to wait for it to 鈥渄evelop鈥� and receive it at 9 a.m. local time.聽

The end result is a more authentic looking photograph–not the filtered, edited photos social media users have grown accustomed to seeing on Instagram, but more raw and real.

Dispo鈥檚 aesthetic is one that Gen Z has come to embrace on social platforms like that is more authentic and unfiltered. Dobrik said in an interview with the last year that the idea for Dispo was born after he noticed his friends taking photos with real disposable cameras at parties. The end product wasn鈥檛 filtered or edited.

鈥淲ith disposable photos, you鈥檙e not sitting there and making sure you get the right photo,鈥� Dobrik said, according to WSJ.

How it works

Besides taking a photo and receiving it the next morning, Dispo also has a social element to it, where users can share their camera rolls. Dispo just released the invite-only version of the app that has the social element, and it quickly hit the 10,000 user limit over the weekend after users in Japan flocked to the app, . The original version of the app with just the photo-taking capability is still available on the App Store.

Who is backing it

Dispo raised a $4 million seed round led by co-founder 鈥檚 VC firm in October 2020, according to 附近上门. We鈥檝e reached out to Seven Seven Six and haven鈥檛 heard back yet, but will update this story if that changes.

VC firms like and also participated in the round, along with celebrity investors like and actress . You can see Dispo鈥檚 full list of investors on 附近上门 .

also reported Wednesday that the app has gotten investment interest from the likes of and , which recently backed .

So there you have it. Time will quickly tell if Dispo is more than just the latest fad but with high profile backers and a nice chunk of seed money it will at least be interesting to see what lies ahead.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias