Pepo, social app cofounded by Jason Goldberg, raises $2.3 million seed round

Messaging app Pepo announced a $2.3 million seed round led by Tencent today at TechCrunch Disrupt London.

Other participants in the investment round include Greycroft Partners, Vectr Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Fab cofounder Nishith Shah, and Pepo’s cofounder Jason Goldberg. Up until this point the company had been self-funded by Goldberg.

Pepo, based in Berlin, is a social messaging platform that connects users with shared interests through public or private chats, sometimes dubbed the “consumer Slack”.

The company declined to release any specific user numbers but Goldberg told tech.eu that it’s in the “tens of thousands” and explained that it’s focused on growing its weekly active users.

“Rather than shooting for millions of users overnight, we are building incrementally as we observe and measure user behaviour, with the entire focus being on engagement, engagement, engagement,” it added in a statement.

CEO Goldberg and cofounder Sunil Khedar, who is CTO, founded Pepo in February and launched the app in late October. It has offices in Berlin and Pune, India. Goldberg and Khedar have worked together on a number of businesses.

Goldberg first made his mark in tech when he founded Jobster in 2004, which was ultimately sold in 2006. He eventually moved on to found Fab (cofounded with Khedar) and Hem, which have both pivoted into design and furniture ecommerce sites. One of Fab’s cofounders Nishith Shah has contributed to this funding round in Pepo.