Founded just a year ago in Melbourne, Butter has secured 10,000 users, a $260,000 investment from ‘day one’ investor Antler, and a $2.2 million valuation. The problem it’s solving is universal: loneliness.
The sun is radiating in the blue winter sky and the atmosphere is buzzing. At a vibrant Brunswick cafe, a group of young professionals are meeting in person, a seemingly simple social gathering, but one with a powerful business backstory. Dan, Emma, Paul, and Alice have connected on Butter, a new social app founded in Melbourne that is turning a growing societal problem – loneliness – into a strategic opportunity.
Butter’s business case is built on a massive and often overlooked market. The UN calls the loneliness pandemic the “most important crisis of our time,” and in Australia, ABS statistics show 36 per cent of the population consider themselves lonely in an average week. For Gen Z, the app’s core user base, that number jumps to an “insane” 70 per cent.
The solution was born from the personal experience of co-founder Sam Richardson. A former elite athlete and digital strategist for L’Oréal and David Jones, Richardson moved cities frequently and struggled to build a community of friends with aligned interests.
When she missed a Mumford and Sons concert because she had no one to go with, she saw her personal problem as a symptom of a larger “disconnection crisis.” She turned her mind to creating an online platform that enables users who don’t necessarily know each other – or maybe they do – to meet up in person for a bite to eat, a walk around Albert Park Lake, or to attend a music event together.
A “contrarian” business model
Butter’s approach is both a human solution and a bold business strategy. The app’s core model is designed to get people off their phones and into real-life interactions – a direct challenge to the engagement-driven algorithms of traditional social media.
This “contrarian” approach is precisely what attracted the Australian arm of VC firm and ‘founder factory’ Antler to invest.
Mike Abbott, a partner at Antler, says that while we’ve never been more connected, “we’ve never felt more lonely.” This insight, and Richardson demonstrating her tenacity, led Antler to invest $260,000 for a 12% stake in the company, valuing it at approximately $2.2 million. Abbott says the investment was de-risked by a founder who showed a relentless work ethic and a clear plan to monetise.
“Sam is very impressive. She’s a force of nature. Her background is as a competitive athlete,” Abbot tells Forbes Australia.
“The goal of the platform is not to keep people in the app as much as possible. It’s to get people connecting and doing real activities in real life. So it’s really quite contrarian. And that very much attracted us.”
While in the 10-week Antler program, Richardson met former Linktree, Afterpay, and Lightspeed engineer Francis Malloch-Boe, now her co-founder in Butter. They undertook early experiments on the preferences of users, and found they were willing to tip event hosts. The founders also secured letters of intent from community groups willing to pay to manage their communities on the platform.
Organic growth and user-driven value
The app’s value proposition has fueled remarkable organic growth. Richardson noted that just under 40 per cent of their community has found them organically through social media, with TikTok being the predominant driver. This week, the company announced it hit a milestone of 10,000 users. And that’s all within one city.
Butter’s success is a direct result of solving a genuine problem, according to the folks who use it. Dan, a 30-year-old IT consultant who moved to Melbourne from Sydney, says making friends in a new city is tough. Butter has given him an avenue to make plans, meet people, and maximise the enjoyment of his new hometown.
Paul, a 29-year-old auditor, highlighted the app’s ability to help him get “out of the house to try different, new things,” while student Alice, who was born in China and studied at the University of Melbourne, noted that the app’s casual nature is a welcome alternative to other platforms that feel “very formal or very structured.”
A strategy for scaling
Butter’s business strategy is built for rapid expansion. The company plans to grow “city by city,” and will expand to Sydney in the coming months, before rolling out across Australia next year.
Richardson has a bold vision for the app’s future, stating that their goal is to scale internationally and for “every real-life interaction to be built on Butter.” By creating a platform for intentional, curated, in-person connection, Butter is providing a bold solution to a pervasive modern problem, helping people reclaim their social lives and alleviate loneliness.
The success of Butter demonstrates a simple, human truth that resonates with its investors. As Abbott the Antler partner, says, “We’re still very much in need of that human connection, and people are looking for ways to find those connections.”
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