[...] much like the buzzy anonymous social network Secret, Rumr isn't exactly anonymous - it's a real-time group chat among friends, in which participants are assigned colors instead of displaying names. Jerlecki and co-founder Andrew Chae, both veterans of the free texting app textPlus, said they wanted to add context to the anonymous app space, providing more than a one-way platform for venting or gossip. Jerlecki imagines that a cloak of anonymity within a circle of friends will free up the conversation for a more honest, heartfelt dialogue. Major investorsIn November, Rumr raised an $800,000 seed round from major investors including Ben Ling of Khosla Ventures, angel investor Paige Craig and Google Ventures (which also invested in Secret). PostSecret, a website that began in 2005 with confessional snail-mail postcards, ran into troubles with anonymity when it expanded to include an app, which was canned in 2012 because it was difficult to manage. Ask.fm, a website where people can ask one another questions, often anonymously, recently came under fire after a British teen who had been bullied on the site committed suicide.
Reported by SFGate 5 hours ago.
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