For most of human history, conversations were private by default, and the communities people built belonged to them. The internet made communication easier, but it also placed companies between people and the relationships they created. SimpleX exists to bring that privacy and ownership back to the people.

Every other network can identify users

For 150 years, all networks required user identifiers. From the telephone invented in the 19th century, to email services, social media, and messaging – using phone numbers, usernames, random IDs or public keys – to be reachable, you have to be identifiable.

Every other messenger knows who you talk to

User identification gives networks power over users to surveil their private life, to sell their data, and to revoke access. Even encrypted platforms see who you talk to, when, and where. Pseudonyms don’t help – your contacts are a fingerprint.

And being identified puts your identity and data at risk of being used by criminals.

Every other platform can censor users without due process

Telegram blocked 44 million groups and channels in 2025 alone. YouTube creators lose channels and can't recover them even after winning in legal proceedings.

Every platform that distributes content at scale identifies both the publisher and the audience – giving platform owners the power to censor public speech.

Publishers and content creators build audiences on borrowed infrastructure. One policy change, and the audience that took years to build can be gone.

The root cause of these problems is user identification. The solution is not better policies or stronger encryption with the same architecture – it is a different architecture, without user IDs.

We invented and built SimpleX Network without user IDs

It uses no phone numbers, emails, or user accounts – to take power from the network and give it back to the users. The network runs on multiple independent operators – SimpleX Chat and Flux are preconfigured in the app, and anyone can run their own servers.

And we built a free SimpleX Chat app, for mobile and desktop, that uses SimpleX Network to connect to other users.

SimpleX Chat provides private messaging without any user IDs – it protects the users, because no one can see who they talk to. As one X user wrote: “As long as I don’t invite anyone to a chat, nobody can find me – and that’s the best part about it. That's how privacy works”. And families tell us they use SimpleX Chat with their children, because they feel safe knowing no one can reach them.

SimpleX Chat also enables public groups and channels, where owners fully control them, and nobody can take their work, because only the users hold the keys.

Every conversation in SimpleX Chat has its own network address, removing the need for any user IDs on the network. There is no user data on the servers that could be breached or sold – all user data exists only on user devices.

SimpleX software is open-source and based on open protocols. It was audited by Trail of Bits in 2022, 2024, and 2026 (will be published soon).

430,000+ users joined on their own

Over 430K people use SimpleX Chat every month – up roughly 50% in the last six months – and all of them found it without any paid marketing. Among them are security and cryptography experts – the hardest users to win over.

200+ independent reviews, posts, and videos in 20+ languages (simplex.chat/links).

2.5 million people have downloaded the app.

Users send 20 million messages a day via pre-configured servers.

Users have donated over $650,000 (including the donation from Vitalik Buterin), paying for something they could use for free.

All of it was built on a total investment of just $1.7M.

SimpleX is a network, not just an app

Not only the people who use SimpleX primarily for private messaging, but also four other kinds of participants came to the network:

1. Creators, with thousands of public groups and channels.
2. Businesses: 20+ support customers over SimpleX.
3. Developers: 18K+ GitHub stars, 1,000+ forks.
4. Operators: ~1,000 servers run by volunteers at their own cost, plus Flux and StormyCloud.

Each user group makes the network more valuable to the rest – more users attract creators and businesses, creators attract servers and developers, more content and network utility attracts more users – driving organic growth.

Channels accelerate SimpleX Network growth

Messaging grows person-by-person: whole social graphs have to move together, which is slow against widely used networks, such as WhatsApp or Telegram. Channels accelerate it – one creator who brings a channel to SimpleX can bring thousands of subscribers, some of whom would then create their own channels.

Creators have started over 4,000 scalable channels in the two months since they shipped. 500+ public groups and channels are in the curated directory, 30% of them are active daily. Telegram channels tried to migrate in 2024/25, before SimpleX channels could scale. All that growth happened without in-app discovery of groups and channels – we are planning to release it this year, to further accelerate the growth.

Each channel can also be published on the open web – like simplex.chat/news. Search engines index these pages, and anyone can read them in a browser without installing the SimpleX Chat app, so a channel can reach more people than use the app, and some of them may install it.

Developers already bet on SimpleX success

Developers have already started building on SimpleX Network, with some projects defining themselves as SimpleX-first – they run all communications of their applications over the SimpleX Network. They built moderation, swap, and AI bots, bridges (Telegram/Matterbridge), a public server registry, and the OpenClaw plugin. To enable their work, we provide the JavaScript and Python libraries, a customer-support bot for businesses, and binaries to self-host servers.

In 2027, we are planning to release secure chat widgets and activities – to accelerate community innovation, by allowing custom UI for bots and services right in the conversation.

Why SimpleX cannot be copied

No other communication system combines participation privacy, sovereign ownership, infrastructure independence, and scalable one-to-many delivery:

Of these networks, only SimpleX can protect participants’ privacy, because it would require other networks to remove user identifiers – not adding a feature to an existing system but designing a different one. That is hard for three reasons, each stopping a different kind of competitor.

Technically. Other networks rely on user IDs to route messages between users. Signal, Session, Matrix, and Nostr cannot simply drop IDs – they would have to rebuild from scratch.

Economically. Large platforms monetize user identifiers: Telegram and Meta earn from ads and data, and that requires linking every action and connection to a single user ID. Removing IDs would destroy their revenue model. A large company is highly unlikely to do that.

Cold start. A new company could build a no-ID network from scratch. But a network needs users, creators, businesses, developers, and servers, all at the same time. A newcomer would have to achieve it from zero, while competing with the SimpleX Network.

Why now: three trends that may grow SimpleX

Growing surveillance of private life. Big centralized platforms are keen to scan private messages to train their AI models, supported by proposed laws. More people would move to use private messaging that keeps no record of who they talk to.

Accelerating deplatforming. More and more creators are removed from centralized platforms, without any due process. An audience built over years can disappear with one policy change. Affected or at risk content creators would use decentralized networks where they own their work.

AI agents acting for people. A growing number of AI agents are beginning to handle logins and money on behalf of people. If a platform controls an agent’s identity, the platform can shut the agent down or turn it against the person it works for. User-controlled IDs are a basic security for the agentic Internet, not a preference.

All three trends require identity-free messaging. None of the existing networks can provide it.

Revenue plan: free for users, channels & businesses pay

Private messaging should remain free for the users – charging them for features would erode the trust that helps the network grow organically. Instead, we earn from the infrastructure and services that channels and businesses need. On average, users donated ~$1.24 each per year, which shows they are willing to pay before any paid features exist.

Public network names

Most users want to be reachable only by people they choose. But businesses, creators, and publishers need to be found, so they need a public name they control. Even with a public name, the network cannot see who they talk to.

SimpleX public names are globally unique names for a public channel or business, paid yearly and controlled by the owner's key, so no one can seize it. The public test is already released; sales are planned in 3–6 months. Pricing is based on name length. SimpleX Chat plans to earn approximately 80-90% of namespace revenue. At an average expected price of $50 a year (to be confirmed) for a name, 10,000 registered names would cover our current $360,000 annual operating cost.

If you invest $500 or more in this community round, you would receive a name as a perk for 3, 5, or 10 years, depending on when you invest, when the names launch.

Business messaging

We are developing a web widget that would add encrypted chat to any website with one line of code, allowing visitors to talk to the business in their browser without installing anything. It is built for privacy-first businesses and business sectors where anonymity is legally required: whistleblowing, ethics, HR, security, legal, sensitive customers, sources, and tip lines.

20+ businesses use SimpleX Chat for support, and they would be the first customers. The proof-of-concept is done; planned in 6–9 months from closing the round, with an expected price of $20–100/month per business.

It grows the network as well. Someone who talks to a few businesses is already using SimpleX without having installed it, and a QR code scan would bring those conversations into the app.

Paid servers for big channels.

Large public channels that have grown beyond the free tier would pay for the servers that deliver their messages. The proof-of-concept is ready, planned within 12 months of closing the community round, with an expected price of $20–50/month, depending on the channel size. We plan that server operators would earn up to 65% of the revenue, several times their cost, and SimpleX Chat earns the rest.

An open network others can build on

The network is open, and it would help if other developers built their own apps on it – one app cannot reach every audience, and many apps may grow the network faster than we could alone. A bigger network may also bring more users and revenue for SimpleX Chat.

The SimpleX Network Consortium, an agreement between a non-profit SimpleX Network Foundation and SimpleX Chat, prevents any single company from controlling the network. The protocol and the right to use the SimpleX mark for the network are licensed to the foundation permanently, so that operators and users can trust that the network protocols and software remain available regardless of who owns the company.

SimpleX Chat business is protected too: the company owns the app, the brand, mobile application store distribution, preset relay infrastructure, and will retain its revenue share from the infrastructure payments, a position protected by its veto power over Consortium decisions.

The goal: the universal private transport layer

Channels are the first product we plan to monetize, and the revenue above is the first layer. The same network and protocol can deliver: private messages, public channels, businesses, and traffic between AI agents. The optional directory and payment system would create revenue for the server operators and SimpleX Chat.

AI agents are the next layer, and developers already build AI bots. The network does not distinguish between a person and an agent. Agents need exactly what SimpleX provides: an identity no platform controls, and communication no one can observe.

The same public names and payment system can be used by any service on the network, not only messaging or channels, so the revenue may grow with everything built on it.

Why this team wins

We have worked on publishing, messaging, protocol design, blockchains, and cryptography. We have built large-scale systems and open-source software that millions of systems and projects rely on.

We believe that what SimpleX Network achieved comes from listening to users’ criticism. Unlike most technology startups, we announce our plans in advance, and change them before they become products, saving time and resources to get to product-market fit.

We are also fortunate to have great advisors. Some of them are: Moritz Angermann (IOHK, Haskell compiler core contributor), Bruce McCarthy (Product Culture founder), Tom Ritter (Tor, Mozilla, an expert in secure protocol design), and Nick Rogers (ex-CPTO of Stream, an expert in agentic products). Three of them invested in this round.

Use Of Funds

SimpleX Chat spends about $30,000 a month. We plan to use the proceeds of this round to launch revenue products and make the SimpleX Network sustainable, by growing the team and accelerating product development.

As funds become available, our priorities are:

1. Launch Revenue Products. Public names bought directly in the app, business messaging, and the payment system for big channels.

2. Build new products to grow the network.

1. Features for content and community creators: publishing, moderation, in-app discovery.
2. Interactive widgets and activities inside conversations, to enable community innovation and give users more value.
3. Tools for server operators, to professionalize the network and add more servers.

3. Grow the team. Sales and marketing, operations, and engineering.

Become part of SimpleX Network

By investing in SimpleX Chat, you may benefit from the growth of the company and the network. You also help build the first network that protects private life because it has no user identifiers – a design decision that cannot be retrofitted into any existing network.

We are building a network that people own. Businesses, creators, and publishers keep the audiences and communities they build, and no company can take them away or unilaterally shut them down. All users can talk, read, and buy without being watched or tracked from one site to the next. None of this is new. Before the Internet, people's conversations were private, and the groups and audiences they built were their own, with no company in the middle. We lost that when we moved online, and we need it back – the future we set out in our network philosophy.

We're building the network to support that future. We invite you to become part of it.