Must

What Must does

Must, operating as Must App Corp. (Delaware-incorporated, registered in Wilmington, DE with a postal address in Walnut, CA), is a consumer mobile application that combines a social network with an AI-powered recommendation engine for movies and television. Founded in 2017 by Artashes Toumanov (President), with origins traced to a 2016 Privacy Policy and an original operator (Ayyo S.a.r.l.), the company targets individual movie enthusiasts globally and is distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play. Its product surface centers on a proprietary recommendation system branded "Vision," built on neural networks that learn individual taste from user ratings and reviews, supplemented by the proprietary "Must Score" algorithm that powers a "Today" feed aggregating short-form video entertainment content.

The application layers social features on top of the recommendation engine: friend connections, profile comparison (a compatibility algorithm comparing two users' ratings), shared collections for occasions (e.g., first dates), episode and series tracking with new-release notifications, and library import from IMDb, Letterboxd, and Kinopoisk. It integrates with ten streaming platforms (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, PlayStation Network, FandangoNow) for one-click viewing, with communication-channel integrations (Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram) for profile sharing, and Siri Shortcuts for voice-driven recommendations. The team is described as the "talented people from Hyper" (hyperhumans.com), suggesting a tight affiliation with that design/development studio.

Commercially, Must operates as a free, freemium consumer app with no disclosed pricing tiers, in-app purchases, subscriptions, or advertising model in available sources. The go-to-market is product-led growth: app store presence, organic social (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), in-app referral/viral sharing, and earned media coverage (Mashable, Product Hunt). No revenue, ARR, or paying customer base is disclosed; total disclosed equity funding across two rounds is approximately $2.1 million (a $1.5M round in November 2018 and a $600K round in September 2019), and headcount is reported at 11–50 employees.

Name

Must

Legal name

Must App Corp.

Website

https://mustapp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Must (Must App Corp.) is a free mobile social network and AI-powered recommendation app for movie and TV fans, using proprietary neural-network-based "Vision" and "Must Score" algorithms to deliver personalized picks and enable friends to compare tastes and share collections globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Consumer Entertainment Discovery

NAICS

Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (5162), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (519290)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Media & Content Personalization (News, Video, Music, Podcasts) (HDAAAGAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Social, Community & Creator Platform Feeds (HDAAAGAD)

Keywords

• Movie recommendation app
• Social movie network
• TV series tracker
• AI entertainment discovery
• Film watchlist app

Headquarters

HQ city

Wilmington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. App Distribution: Free mobile app available on iOS and Android. No explicit monetization model described in available sources.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Must is a free mobile social platform for movie and TV enthusiasts that combines an AI-driven personal recommendation engine (Vision) with social features. Users track films and series they have watched or want to watch, receive machine-learning-based recommendations that improve with usage, follow friends' ratings, build curated collections, compare movie tastes with other users, and stream content via integrated links to Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now, and other services. The app also imports existing movie libraries from IMDb, Letterboxd, and Kinopoisk.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Must Mobile App Free iOS and Android social app for movie and TV enthusiasts that combines an AI-powered personal recommendation engine with friend-based ratings, watched/want tracking, curated collections, TV series episode tracking, and streaming-platform deep-linking to Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, HBO Now, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, PSN, and FandangoNow. Targets individual consumers globally.
• Vision Recommendation Engine Proprietary machine-learning and AI-powered recommendation engine embedded within the Must app that learns individual user taste through ratings and reviews and serves personalized movie and TV recommendations. Uses neural networks and NLP for text-based movie content analysis.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration18 records

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Letterboxd: Letterboxd is a social network for film lovers where users log, rate, and review movies. It is the closest direct competitor to Must, sharing the social-graph-plus-ratings model and targeting the same cinephile persona; Must explicitly supports library import from Letterboxd.
• Trakt: Trakt is a TV/movie tracking platform with episode tracking, watchlists, and personalized recommendations, with a strong community/scrobbler component. It overlaps with Must's series tracking and discovery features and targets the same power-user movie/TV fan.
• TV Time: TV Time is a TV-show tracking app with episode reminders, watchlists, and community features. It overlaps directly with Must's series tracker and notification features and serves the same episodic-engagement user.

Broad incumbents

• IMDb: IMDb is the dominant global movie/TV database with ratings, reviews, watchlists, and lists — overlapping with Must's core tracking and rating features. Must supports one-click library import from IMDb, indicating direct user overlap.

Emerging players

• JustWatch: JustWatch is a streaming aggregator that helps users find where to watch movies/TV across services, with deep links to streaming platforms. It shares Must's "front door" deep-linking model across Netflix/Hulu/Prime etc. but is more discovery- and monetization-driven and less social.
• Reelgood: Reelgood is a streaming aggregator and universal watchlist app showing where content is available across services. It is comparable to Must's aggregator/deep-link layer and competes for the same "what should I watch tonight" intent.
• Criticker: Criticker is a movie recommendation site that uses a taste-matching algorithm to compare user ratings and suggest films, similar to Must's Vision engine. It is a smaller, niche player focused purely on algorithmic film recommendations.
• MUBI: MUBI is a curated film streaming and discovery service combining hand-picked cinema with social and list features. It targets a similar cinephile persona as Must, though its primary business is paid streaming rather than a free social/recommendation layer.

Regional players

• Kinopoisk: Kinopoisk is the dominant Russian movie/TV database and social rating platform, operated by Yandex. Must supports import from Kinopoisk, signaling direct audience overlap in the Russian-speaking market where Kinopoisk is the incumbent.

Others

• Plex: Plex is a personal media management and streaming platform that includes discovery, watchlist, and social/friend features for shared libraries. While primarily a media server, its discovery and tracking features overlap with Must's movie library and social profile use cases.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/usemustapp
• Facebookfacebook.com/usemustapp
• Instagraminstagram.com/usemustapp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Must