Reddit Buys Dubsmash, A TikTok Rival With Sizable Black And Latinx Creator Base

Reddit has acquired Dubsmash, a short-form social video app that competes with TikTok, describing it as “a welcoming platform for creators and users who are under-represented in social media.”

Terms were not disclosed. Dubsmash has raised $20.2 million from Lowercase Capital, Index Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Heartcore Capital, Sunstone Life and other investors, according to Crunchbase.

In a blog post, Reddit said video has become an increasingly important element in its user experience since it was first introduced in 2017. Reddit users this year have posted millions of videos, doubling the volume in 2019, the company said.

Dubsmash, whose founders and entire staff will join Reddit, will expand the company’s reach and improve its technology, the blog post added.

While a number of the top TikTok influencers are white, Dubsmash has a large base of Black and Latinx creators. The New York Times this year documented the phenomenon of TikTok-ers appropriating dance moves originated by Dubsmash users and popularizing them without attribution. The result has been many Dubsmash creators missing out on lucrative sponsorship deals.

Reddit has faced considerable internal challenges over the years having to do with race as well as gender. Founder and former executive chairman Alexis Ohanian earlier this year resigned from the company’s board and recommended that his seat be filled by a Black candidate. (It was, by Michael Seibel, CEO of Y Combinator.) Ohanian also said he would use future gains on his Reddit shares “to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate.”

Current Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has taken several steps in recent months to increase the company’s effort to curb hate speech on its platform.

The app’s mission “is unique among social platforms, and is aligned with Reddit’s own mission of bringing community and belonging to everyone in the world,” the blog post said. “Just as Reddit is a place for content you won’t see anywhere else on the Internet, Dubsmash provides a welcoming platform for creators and users who are under-represented in social media.”

Dubsmash’s video creation tools will also “empower Reddit’s own creators to express themselves in original and authentic ways that are endemic to our communities.”