BeReal.

BeReal is social media platform and mobile phone app that prompts users to take one photo each day at a random time. The French company was cofounded in 2020 by CEO Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau. BeReal rose to popularity in July 2022, when it climbed to the number one spot on Apple's US App Store charts.

BeReal has been touted as the "anti-Instagram" due to its emphasis on unedited and unfiltered photos. BeReal only allows users to upload one photo each day at a randomly selected time. Users receive a notification on their smartphone at a different time each day, after which they have two minutes to capture a photo and upload it to their feed. BeReal uses a phone's rear and front-facing camera simultaneously, uploading a selfie of the user as well as a photo of what they are doing. Users may only view their friends' BeReals after they have posted theirs. The app also allows people to comment on their friends' BeReals or react to them using RealMojis, a small photo reaction.

When users receive a BeReal notification (shown above), they have two minutes to take a picture of what they are doing. Credit: PetaPixel

BeReal does not feature ads on its feed. It is purely a venture-backed project as of 2022. On June 7, 2021, BeReal raised a total of $30 million in a Series A funding round from lead investors Accel, Andressen Horowitz (a16z), DST Global, and Kima Ventures, the latter of which provided the company's seed funding. In addition to funding, Accel partner Sonali De Rycker and a16z's Andrew Chen joined BeReal's board and announced that they would be working closely with the company's founders.