As uncertainty looms over TikTok’s future in the U.S., a Seattle-based startup has secured funding from billionaire investor Mark Cuban for its short-form video platform, Skylight Social.
The company, co-founded by engineers Victoria White and Reed Harmeyer, aims to differentiate itself from TikTok through its underlying technology. Skylight Social announced on Tuesday that it has received backing from Cuban and Seattle-based venture firm Graham & Walker. TechCrunch was the first to report the funding.
While Skylight’s app bears a resemblance to TikTok, its defining feature is its foundation on the Authenticated Transfer (AT) Protocol—a decentralized framework that allows users to retain ownership of their data, including their social graph, and seamlessly transfer it across different platforms. Bluesky, a rising alternative to X (formerly Twitter), also operates on the AT Protocol.
“We believe in giving users true ownership of their content and social connections,” Skylight states on its website. “By building on AT Protocol, we ensure that your videos, followers, and engagement aren’t locked into our platform. You’re free to take everything with you if you ever choose to use another AT Protocol-based service.”
Skylight is also structured as a Public Benefit Corporation, legally committing to its mission of fostering positive social impact.
The startup recently participated in the ATmosphere Conference in Seattle, where industry leaders, including Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, gathered to discuss the potential of AT Protocol in shaping the future of social media.
Seattle tech veteran Marcelo Calbucci, who attended the event, emphasized the significance of Skylight’s approach. “It’s wrong to think of Skylight as a TikTok clone,” he wrote. “The experience might feel very similar, but users will be able to pack their data and move to another similar service when they want to and continue to benefit from the audience they’ve built.”
The timing of Skylight’s rise coincides with mounting regulatory pressure on TikTok, which faces a potential ban in the U.S. this week.
Leslie Feinzaig, founder of Graham & Walker, underscored the importance of user control in social media platforms. “We all deserve social media platforms that give us control over our content, audience, and relationships—ones that won’t just flip the algorithm because of the founder’s politics, get banned, or arbitrarily change the rules and destroy what we love about them,” she wrote on LinkedIn.
Before launching Skylight, White and Harmeyer co-founded Terris, a Seattle-based company focused on AI-powered tools for generating React app prototypes.
