Retro, a friend-focused photo-sharing app built by former Instagram product engineers Nathan Sharp and Ryan Olson, has raised more than $21 million in a Series A round, according to an SEC filing first spotted by Business Insider. The filing, made under the startup’s legal name, Lone Palm Labs, is dated August 19, though it indicates the funding itself closed in December last year.

Retro launched in 2023 as a personal photo journal and has since added features including private weekly photo sharing, shared albums, recaps, and a “rewind” function for browsing back through camera roll memories. The platform does not monetize through advertising, relying instead on subscriptions that unlock video, GIF, and sticker comments, additional styles, unlimited history, and custom app icons.

“Something that has to be true and will be true is that people will still want to see more of their friends,” Sharp told TechCrunch in December, pointing to the dominance of For You-style feeds across today’s social platforms. “The photos and videos you take will need to find a place where they can reach the intended audience,” he said.

App intelligence firm Appfigures reports Retro has been downloaded roughly 7 million times since launch. Subscribers remain a small share of the app’s user base, but the spending growth points to a committed core of frequent users.

Retro’s backers include Thrive Capital, Figma CEO Dylan Field, Scribble Ventures, Box Group, Imaginary Ventures, Coalition, Conviction, Copper, Positive Sum, and a number of angel investors.

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