The live trivia app sensation has raised $15m in a new round of financing from Founders Fund, the VC firm co-founded by Peter Thiel.
In just 5 months, HQ has surpassed 1.5m players, and with this new round of funding their value now lies just north of $100m.
Somethin’ about those founders…
While many industry folk have been skeptical of the app’s staying power, the issues that stood in the way of their funding actually go much deeper — specifically, to the app’s founders, Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll.
According to Recode, many “prominent investors” pulled out of funding the startup at the last minute upon learning of Yusupov and Kroll’s alleged “bad behavior,” including allegations of sexual harassment against Kroll.
In walks Peter Thiel…
The former (rumored) teen-blood-transfuser slash Gawker-destroyer has garnered the reputation of being a heat-seeking missile for shady business ventures.
And fans of HQ aren’t happy about it: on Friday before the news broke, the hashtag #DeleteHQ began trending, with users expressing their displeasure of the trivia app’s new business partner.
That said, it’s highly unlikely this trending boycott will cause any actual damage.
In other news: what’s the deal with HQ’s host??
His name is Scott Rogowsky, his eyebrows are real, and according to AdAge, he sincerely believes HQ players shouldn’t cheat.
But aside from those details, Rogowsky has remained enigmatic, sparking imaginative debates among the HQ fanbase.
SO, we’ll leave you with a Q: Which of the following Scott Rogowsky fan-spiracies is true?
- Before each trivia round, he’s caged and cattle-prodded
- The founders of HQ are using the standup comic as a pawn to infiltrate showbiz
- He was nearly fired for mentioning he likes Sweetgreen