Minds
Minds operates a decentralized, open-source social networking platform serving creators, brands, and privacy-conscious users with tokenized monetization, federation, and a white-label app product. Revenue comes from subscriptions, native advertising, and creator fees.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersWilton, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Minds does
Minds, Inc. operates a decentralized, open-source social networking platform built on Ethereum blockchain infrastructure, React Native mobile clients, and a GraphQL API, with backend services running on Kubernetes/Oracle Cloud using Vitess, Elasticsearch, and Cassandra. The company serves three primary customer segments: content creators and publishers seeking censorship-resistant monetization, brands and communities wanting to launch their own white-label social apps, and free-speech/privacy-oriented users. The core product (Minds.com) is one of the larger networks in the decentralized social media space, having generated more than 1 billion cumulative views, and supports ActivityPub and Nostr federation for cross-platform interoperability.
The company monetizes through a layered revenue model: freemium consumer subscriptions (Minds+ at $8/month and Minds Pro at $58/month), a Boost native advertising marketplace with a 50/50 revenue share with publishers, an Ethereum-based Minds Token economy (engagement rewards, Boost credits, and Uniswap liquidity incentives), a Supermind paid-content-request feature (15% platform take), creator Memberships, direct Tips in USD/crypto, embedded third-party plugins (comments, boosts, share), and enterprise white-label hosting via Minds Networks priced by MAU. Go-to-market is hybrid: product-led growth for consumers, community-led growth via open-source participation on GitLab and token incentives, and a light-touch enterprise field-sales motion for Minds Networks deals.
Minds is a privately held Delaware/Corporation governed by Connecticut law, headquartered in Wilton, CT, with a distributed team of 11–50 employees spread across the Atlantic. The company has raised approximately $17.4M across disclosed rounds (2013 seed, 2017, 2018 Series A led by Medici Ventures, 2021 Series B led by Futo), has not disclosed revenue, and is not a subsidiary of any larger entity.
Minds firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Minds
- Legal name
- Minds, Inc.
- Website
- https://minds.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Minds operates a decentralized, open-source social networking platform serving creators, brands, and privacy-conscious users with tokenized monetization, federation, and a white-label app product. Revenue comes from subscriptions, native advertising, and creator fees.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Minds industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Decentralized Social Media Software
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (51621), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Messaging-Led Community Platforms (Chat/Group Communities) (MPACAJAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Creator Monetization & Tipping Platforms (MPACABAE), Creator Monetization Tools (Subscriptions, Tips, Merch) (BPAMALAH), Social, Community & Creator Platform Feeds (HDAAAGAD)
Keywords
Where Minds is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Wilton
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Minds business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Subscription - Minds+ and Pro: Tiered subscription model: Free tier (basic features), Plus at $8/month (verification, premium content, boost credits), Pro at $58/month (all Plus features plus custom domain, cash payouts, token withdrawals). Revenue from monthly/annual subscriptions.
- Boost Advertising: Native advertising marketplace where users spend tokens or cash to promote content. Publishers earn 50% of revenue from boosts on their channels. Minds earns 50% of boost revenue.
- Minds Tokens: Utility tokens used within the platform for advertising (Boost), engagement rewards, and accessing premium features. Tokens distributed through engagement rewards system and community Superminds.
- Creator Monetization (Supermind): Creators earn 85% of USD or Minds Tokens for fulfilled Supermind requests (personalized content/replies). Minds takes 15% platform fee plus Stripe processing fees.
- Memberships: Creators can offer paid memberships with exclusive content access. Minds processes payments and takes a platform fee.
- Hosting Services: Minds Networks offers hosting for white-label social apps. Hosting charges based on estimated hours of work and Monthly Active Users (MAU).
- Affiliate/Referral Commissions: Boost Partner Program pays 50% of boost revenue for publishers driving pageviews. Affiliate program pays commissions for referring subscribers. 5% commission on Supermind/Memberships/Tips payments via Minds Pay.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free - Basic social media features |
| Subscription | Monthly | Plus - Creator tier at $8/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Pro - Power user/enterprise tier at $58/month |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels7 records
Minds product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Minds operates a decentralized, blockchain-based social networking platform (Minds.com) that lets users create and share text, image, audio, and video content while earning token-based rewards for engagement. The platform is paired with Minds Networks, a white-label solution that enables brands and communities to launch their own branded social media apps on web, iOS, and Android with full data ownership. Monetization is delivered through subscription tiers, a native Boost advertising marketplace, and creator tools such as Supermind paid replies, tips, and memberships.
Product overview
Minds is a decentralized, community-owned social networking platform built on an open-source architecture. The core product, Minds.com, serves as the main social network offering free and premium tiers. The platform provides a white-label solution called Minds Networks for launching custom branded apps. Monetization is enabled through a token-based economy (Minds Tokens), subscription tiers (Minds+ at $8/month and Minds Pro at $58/month), the Boost native advertising marketplace, Supermind paid content requests, direct Tips, and Membership subscriptions. Key features include ActivityPub federation, encrypted chat, video hosting with YouTube sync, embedded comment and Boost plugins for external sites, and creator analytics. The platform differentiates through user data ownership, free speech advocacy, and blockchain-based reward systems.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Minds.com Social Network The flagship decentralized social networking platform offering free and paid social networking features including text, image, audio, and video posts, blogs, groups, encrypted chat, Boost advertising, token rewards, and creator monetization tools. Available on web, iOS, and Android.
- Minds Networks White-label platform enabling brands, publishers, and communities to launch their own branded social media apps on web, iOS, and Android with custom domains, full branding customization, embedded comments and Boost plugins, and complete data ownership. Interoperable with ActivityPub, RSS, and other web2/web3 protocols.
- Embedded Comments Plugin
- Embedded Boosts Plugin
- Share to Minds Plugin
Quantifiable outcome
- Creators can retain 85-100% of revenue compared to 0-55% on traditional platforms
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Minds
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Minds technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration11 records
Feature7 records
Minds partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- ActivityPubcoreActivityPub is the W3C standard protocol for decentralized social networking that Minds uses for federation, enabling users to interact with other ActivityPub-compatible platforms.
- NostrcoreNostr is a decentralized protocol that Minds integrates with for additional interoperability and censorship-resistant communication options.
- EthereumcoreMinds Tokens are built on the Ethereum blockchain, enabling secure, transparent token transactions and wallet infrastructure.
- UniswapcoreMinds Token liquidity providers are rewarded with Boosted ad space relative to their percentage of the liquidity pool on Uniswap.
- StripecoreStripe processes USD payments for Minds+ subscriptions, Supermind transactions, memberships, and cash payouts to creators.
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)coreMinds deploys its infrastructure on Oracle Cloud, utilizing Kubernetes for container orchestration and cloud access management.
- GitLabcoreMinds uses GitLab for source code management, issue tracking, merge requests, and community contributions. All code and documentation reside on GitLab.
- Apple (iOS)coreMinds mobile app available on iOS with native app distribution through Apple Developer Program.
- Google (Android)coreMinds mobile app available on Android with native app distribution through Google Play Store.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Minds competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Mastodon: Mastodon is the leading decentralized, open-source social network using ActivityPub federation. It competes directly with Minds.com for censorship-resistant, user-owned social networking and is the most directly comparable decentralized consumer social platform.
- Bluesky: Bluesky is a decentralized social platform built on the open AT Protocol with rapid user growth post-2023. It competes directly with Minds for users seeking alternatives to mainstream networks and supports portable identity and federation.
- Steemit/Hive: Hive (the community fork of Steemit) is a blockchain-based social platform with token rewards for content creation and curation. It directly parallels Minds' Ethereum-based token economy and creator-monetization model.
- Diaspora: Diaspora is a nonprofit, open-source, decentralized social network emphasizing user data ownership and federation. It targets the same privacy-conscious, free-speech-leaning audience as Minds but predates it.
- Gab: Gab is a free-speech-focused social network with a similar user demographic to Minds and its own token (Banano/tipping). It competes head-to-head for the same censorship-resistant, alternative-media user base.
Emerging players
- Farcaster: Farcaster is a sufficiently decentralized social protocol with a growing developer ecosystem and Frames feature. It overlaps with Minds in targeting crypto-native and Web3 users who want portable identity and crypto payments.
- Lens Protocol: Lens Protocol is a Web3 social graph built on Polygon with NFT-based profiles and follow mechanisms. It competes with Minds in the Web3 social networking category with tokenized creator economics.
- Mirror.xyz: Mirror is a Web3 publishing platform with on-chain monetization and NFT-based posts. It overlaps with Minds in offering creator monetization via crypto rails and blockchain-native content distribution.
Broad incumbents
- Patreon: Patreon is the leading subscription-based creator monetization platform with memberships and paid tiers. Minds' Memberships, Tips, and Supermind features compete with Patreon's core offering for creator revenue share.
- Substack: Substack is a subscription newsletter and content platform popular with independent journalists. It competes with Minds' creator monetization features and Minds+ subscription feed for creator audience capture.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Minds social profiles
Digital presenceMinds financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Minds leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Minds funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Minds M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Minds
What does Minds do?
Minds operates a decentralized, blockchain-based social networking platform (Minds.com) that lets users create and share text, image, audio, and video content while earning token-based rewards for engagement. The platform is paired with Minds Networks, a white-label solution that enables brands and communities to launch their own branded social media apps on web, iOS, and Android with full data ownership. Monetization is delivered through subscription tiers, a native Boost advertising marketplace, and creator tools such as Supermind paid replies, tips, and memberships.
Is Minds a public or private company?
Minds is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Minds founded?
Minds was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Minds based?
Minds is headquartered in Wilton, United States, in the North America region.
How does Minds make money?
Seven revenue lines are on record. Subscription - Minds+ and Pro is the primary driver. The others are boost Advertising, minds Tokens, creator Monetization (Supermind), memberships, hosting Services and affiliate/Referral Commissions.
Who are Minds's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Mastodon, Bluesky, Steemit/Hive, Diaspora and Gab. Emerging players are Farcaster, Lens Protocol and Mirror.xyz. Broad incumbents are Patreon and Substack.
Does Minds have an API?
Yes. Minds provides a public developer API accessible via developers.minds.com. The platform uses GraphQL for backend operations and offers REST endpoints for embedded plugins. Developers can build custom integrations using the platform's open APIs. The platform is built on open-source code available on GitLab and GitLab, with token-based authentication for API access. Community contributions are welcomed, and developers can earn token rewards for contributing code or documentation. Developer documentation is at developers.minds.com.
What industry is Minds in?
Minds's product category is Decentralized Social Media Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAJAE, Messaging-Led Community Platforms (Chat/Group Communities), with a secondary code of MPACABAE, Creator Monetization & Tipping Platforms. Its NAICS code is 516210 and its SIC code is 7372.