But on the other hand, it’s very hard to stay intentional,” he explains.
“In particular, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter - social media is where you feel like you’re learning something, and you feel like you’re connecting with people. Social media, in particular, has been a huge problem in recent years, Schlenker says. That drove him to build Opal, with the goal of helping people better achieve balance in their lives so they could reconnect with loved ones, spend time in nature or just generally go offline to focus on other areas of their lives.Īt a basic level, Opal’s VPN allows users to block themselves from using dozens of distracting apps and sites for certain periods of time, including social media, news, productivity apps and more. In more recent years, Schlenker came to realize that others were having the same problem, including those outside the tech industry.
Other investors included Harry Stebbings, Steve Schlafman, Alex Zubillaga, Kevin Carter, Thibaud Elziere, Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Alban Denoyel, Isai, Secocha Ventures, Speedinvest, and others. Timed with its public debut, Opal also today announced its initial financing in a round led by Nicolas Wittenborn at Adjacent, a mobile-focused VC fund. Instead, its business model is based on paid subscriptions, not selling user data, it says. But unlike some VPNs on the market, Opal is committed to not collecting any personal data on its users or their private browsing data. The service works by way of a VPN system that limits your access to apps and sites. The company, now backed by $4.3 million in seed funding, has developed a digital well-being assistant for iOS that allows you to block distracting websites and apps, set schedules around app usage, lock down apps for stricter and more focused quiet periods, and more. Many people want to develop better screen-time habits, but don’t have a good set of tools to do so.