Jelly (app)

Jelly was a Q&A platform app which was created by Jelly Industries, a search-engine company founded and led by Biz Stone, one of Twitter's co-founders.^[1] In March 2017, Jelly was acquired by Pinterest for an undisclosed amount.^[2]

Jelly

Type of site	Subsidiary
Founded	April 2013; 11 years ago (2013-04)
Dissolved	April 2017 (2017-04)
Headquarters	San Francisco, United States
Founder(s)	Biz Stone Ben Finkel
Industry	Mobile apps
Parent	Pinterest

Jelly differentiated itself from other Q&A platforms such as Quora and ChaCha by relying on visual imagery to steer people to getting better answers from within and outside their social networks. In particular, it encouraged people to use photos to ask questions.^[3][4]

History

AllThingsD reported on March 28, 2013, that, according to sources, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone was close to launching a native mobile app called Jelly.^[5] On April 1, 2013, Stone wrote the company's first blog post, giving only vague information about the product.^[6] A TechCrunch writer inferred that the product would be targeted at do-gooders on the go.^[7] Other news publications also published speculation about the app.^[8]

In May 2013, while still in stealth mode, Jelly raised Series A funding from Spark Capital, SV Angel, Square CEO Jack Dorsey, Reid Hoffman, Al Gore, Bono, and others.^[9][10][11]

The app release was announced, thereby bringing Jelly out of stealth mode, on January 7, 2014.^[3] The announcement was picked up by much of the technology press and mainstream press.^[4][12][13] Stone explained to TechCrunch that the primary goal of Jelly was not to help people asking questions but to improve empathy among people answering questions by making them feel helpful to people around them.^[14] In an interview with Bloomberg News, Stone said that he never intended to create a company with Jelly, and that it was largely accidental.^[15][16]

The app was reviewed by Rachel Metz for Technology Review.^[17] The Next Web published advice for how brands could use the new app effectively.^[18]

On January 23, 2014, Jelly announced that it had raised Series B funding from Greylock Partners.^[19][20]

On March 31, 2014, Jelly updated its iOS app to the 1.1 version that allows users create questions using a map and a specific location.^[21][22]

On March 8, 2017, Pinterest said it had acquired Jelly Industries.^[1]

See also

• Quora
• Yahoo! Answers

References

1. Brown, Eliot (March 8, 2017). "Pinterest Acquires Twitter Co-Founder's Startup Jelly". The Wall Street Journal. New York City. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
2. Fingas, Jon (8 March 2017). "Pinterest acquires Jelly, the startup from Twitter's Biz Stone". Engadget. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
3. . Jelly blog. January 7, 2014. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
4. Lunden, Ingrid (January 7, 2014). "Jelly, Biz Stone's New Q&A Platform, Uses Images To Find Answers". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
5. Swisher, Kara (March 28, 2013). "Sweet? Biz Stone Is Poised to Launch New Mobile Startup Called Jelly". AllThingsD. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
6. Stone, Biz (April 1, 2013). . Jelly blog. Archived from the original on November 16, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
7. Olanoff, Drew (April 1, 2013). "Biz Stone's New Startup Jelly Sounds Like A Home For Do-Gooders On The Go". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
8. Rogers, Katie (April 2, 2013). "Biz Stone's Jelly: what could the Twitter founder's mysterious new product do? He's built a career out of creating new projects, and now he's set his sights on something new. Tell us what you think he's up to". The Guardian. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
9. . Jelly blog. May 16, 2013. Archived from the original on November 16, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
10. Perez, Sarah (May 16, 2013). "Biz Stone's New Startup Jelly Raises Series A From Spark Capital, SV Angel, Square CEO Jack Dorsey, Reid Hoffman, Al Gore, Bono & Others". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
11. Yeung, Ken (May 16, 2013). "Biz Stone's Jelly nabs Series A funding from Spark Capital, SV Angel, Al Gore, Jack Dorsey, others". The Next Web. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
12. Wagner, Kurt (January 8, 2014). "Twitter Cofounder Biz Stone Launches Q&A App Jelly". Mashable. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
13. Mendoza, Dorrine (January 8, 2014). "Biz Stone: What Jelly can do for you". CNN. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
14. Ferenstein, Gregory (January 7, 2014). "Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone Explains The Surprising Goal Of His New Company, Jelly". Retrieved January 24, 2014.
15. "Biz Stone: Jelly Answers Buy, How, What Questions". Bloomberg News. January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
16. Van Grove, Jennifer (January 21, 2014). "Biz Stone, accidental Jelly CEO: The former Twitter exec said his latest venture was never meant to be a company". CNet. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
17. Metz, Rachel (January 10, 2014). "What's the Jelly App For? Shopping May Be One Answer: A new smartphone app from a Twitter cofounder makes it easy and fun to get your friends' advice on everything from shopping to Chopin". Technology Review. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
18. Cooper, Kate (January 22, 2014). "Are you ready for this Jelly? How brands should be using Biz Stone's new Q&A app". The Next Web. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
19. . Jelly blog. January 23, 2014. Archived from the original on January 24, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
20. Panzarino, Matthew (January 23, 2014). "Biz Stone's Jelly Raises Series B Led By Greylock, And Josh Elman Joins The Board". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
21. Summers, Nick (March 31, 2014). "Jelly for iOS now lets you ask and answer questions with a location". The Next Web. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
22. Perez, Sarah (March 31, 2014). "Mobile Q&A App Jelly Now Lets You Ask Location-Based Questions Routed To Nearby Users". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 9, 2014.