Graze Secures $1M to Expand Ethical Ad Solutions and Custom Feed Tools for Bluesky Users
A promising startup aiming to reshape the social media experience has just secured a major financial boost. Graze, a platform that empowers users to create, personalize, and now monetize curated feeds on Bluesky, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Betaworks and Salesforce Ventures, with support from Factorial, Apertu Capital, Skyseed, and angel investors affiliated with Mozilla and Protocol Labs.
Putting Users in Control of the Algorithm
Graze is tackling a core issue many social media users face: lack of control over what content they see. Its platform enables individuals to build customized feeds tailored to their interests, using simple web-based tools that handle logic, sorting, moderation, and filters.
While platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Threads rely heavily on algorithmic feeds that users can’t escape, Bluesky — with a growing user base of nearly 35 million — encourages customizability. Anyone on the network can follow different feeds, pin them to their app interface, and even set one as their default.
Still, for users without programming knowledge, building such feeds has been a hurdle. Graze addresses this gap by offering feed-building templates that simplify the process for non-developers.
4,500 Feeds and Counting
Graze’s impact on the Bluesky ecosystem is already measurable. The platform currently supports over 4,500 feeds created by roughly 3,000 users. Among them are some of Bluesky’s most popular feeds, including the News feed, Booksky, and others spanning topics like gaming, art, fitness, politics, and hobbies. Notably, Graze also powers external services such as Sill, a news-tracking tool, and feeds in other apps built on the AT Protocol (ATProto).
Introducing Advertising with a New Ethical Twist
Taking things further, Graze is now venturing into the world of advertising — but with a unique twist. The platform allows feed creators to monetize through ads, while still prioritizing user choice and transparency.
Rather than mining user data to target ads — a model common among Big Tech firms — Graze gives advertisers the ability to select specific feeds based on topic and audience relevance. Feed operators maintain editorial control, deciding which ads appear, how often, and what price is charged.
This approach, says Graze co-founder and CTO Devin Gaffney, gives advertisers a better experience than traditional networks.
“Advertisers have very little control over where their content is seen and the quality of how that is rendered to people,” he said. “They don’t have any real relationship with the audience. And the decision as to how [the ad] gets shown to people is systematically against their favor.”
Giving Power Back to Users and Creators
One of the standout features of Graze’s ad system is the ability for users to opt out of ads by simply blocking sponsored hashtags. Additionally, feed operators are encouraged to limit ad saturation — not just out of principle, but to retain their followers and engagement.
“There is a self-regulatory aspect that is not present in other platforms that will make operators behave in a much more pro-social way,” said Gaffney.
At present, 200 feeds are running ads, priced at around $1 per 1,000 impressions. Graze takes a 30% cut, which covers hosting, payments, and the feed management infrastructure — even for feeds that do not include monetization.
Exploring the Future: Revenue Sharing with Bluesky and ATProto Apps
Looking ahead, Graze is considering revenue-sharing models with Bluesky and other apps built on the AT Protocol, such as media-sharing platforms Skylight, Spark, and Flashes.
“We’re very interested in figuring out what is the ethical revenue sharing model that helps everyone involved in the picture, including app developers,” explained Graze CEO Peat Bakke.
The leadership team consists of Bakke, Gaffney (based in Portland), and front-end developer Andrew Lisowski, who operates out of San Jose. They are supported by a small group of part-time contributors who handle areas such as code development, communications, and community management.
Focused on Building, Not Just Earning
While the new funding will help Graze scale, the startup says it’s not solely focused on revenue growth right now.
“Right now, we are not focused on revenue — I mean, we already have revenue,” said Bakke in a statement to TechCrunch. “We’re focused on discovery, learning … how do we make this a great experience for everyone, and build relationships in the space?”
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