Startup profile for Here Not There Labs: latest funding, latest known valuation, total disclosed funding, investors, status, sources, and why the company is interesting. Part of the Venture Capital Tracker startup directory.
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Here Not There Labs funding, valuation and investors

Builder of Towns — decentralized, E2E-encrypted group chat protocol for online communities.

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Funding, valuation & investors

Answer-first snapshot

Latest funding

Series B

$10M · 2025

Latest known valuation

Not publicly disclosed

Total disclosed equity funding

$36M

Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.

Current status

private

series b

Investors in latest funding

Other: Benchmark

Sources: latest funding Last verified: 2026-07-25

Overview

Here Not There Labs builds Towns, a decentralized end-to-end encrypted group-chat protocol designed for online communities with on-chain governance via Towns DAO.

Why Here Not There Labs is interesting

Founded by Houseparty/Meerkat's Ben Rubin; transitioning governance to Towns DAO.

Product & use cases

Here Not There Labs builds Towns — decentralized end-to-end encrypted group chat with on-chain governance for online communities.

  • Crypto-native community group messaging
  • Encrypted chat with user governance
  • Portable community identity via Towns protocol

Key facts

  • Series A (2023): $25.5M led by a16z crypto; Benchmark participated — CoinDesk / FinSMEs
  • Series B (2025): $10M with Benchmark and Coinbase Ventures — CB Insights
  • Founded by Ben Rubin (Houseparty / Meerkat); governance transitioning to Towns DAO

Funding history (newest first)

Series B

2025 $10M

Source: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/towns-funding

Series A

2023 $25.5M

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/towns-raises-25m/

Investors in our directory

Funds linked from Here Not There Labs's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.

Andreessen Horowitz Benchmark

Competitive landscape

Edge: Ben Rubin's consumer social track record (Houseparty) applied to decentralized community infrastructure.

Decentralized social/messaging has long adoption cycles. Towns has strong investors but needs community density to compete with Discord's network effects.

  • Discord incumbent

    Dominant community chat; centralized.

  • Telegram groups adjacent

    Large crypto community usage; not decentralized.

  • Matrix/Element adjacent

    Decentralized messaging protocol; less crypto-native governance.

Notable stories

  • a16z crypto led $25.5M Series A (2023); Benchmark in Series A and B (CoinDesk).
  • Coinbase Ventures participated in Series B per CB Insights.

Industries

Crypto & Web3

FAQs about Here Not There Labs

Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.

Builds Towns — decentralized E2E-encrypted group messaging for online communities.
a16z (/fund/andreessen-horowitz) led Series A. Benchmark (/fund/benchmark) in Series A and B.
Ben Rubin — previously founded Houseparty and Meerkat.
On-chain governance structure transitioning control to community.
Towns decentralized and encrypted; Discord centralized platform.
Series B — $10M in 2025 after $25.5M Series A (2023).
Corporate entity at /startup/here-not-there-inc.
No — remains private.
Website All startups Funding news

By Venture Capital Tracker

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Editorial note: AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.