thearchivist.funYik Yak closes after a small sale to Square
On 28 April 2017 Yik Yak's co-founders posted a farewell note saying they would shut down the anonymous social network that week. TechCrunch reported that, according to an SEC filing from 16 April, Square had agreed to hire several Yik Yak employees and take a non-exclusive licence to some of its intellectual property for 1 million dollars. The report said Yik Yak had raised 73.4 million dollars in venture funding since its 2013 founding, according to Crunchbase, and that its valuation had approached 400 million dollars in 2014. The contrast between those figures is the story: a company valued near 400 million dollars three years earlier ended with a licence and a hiring deal reported at 1 million.
Context and provenance
Everything about Yik Yak's content was local and anonymous, so little of it was ever public on the open web. What can be documented from this source is the business outcome, not what people said.
The funding and valuation figures are from Crunchbase and the press, not from audited accounts. Cite them with that attribution, and cite the 1 million dollar figure to the SEC filing as the article reports it.
Keep three kinds of claim apart: the founders' farewell note, the SEC filing as reported by TechCrunch, and the Crunchbase funding figure. If you need the filing itself, look for it on the regulator's site and cite that instead of the news summary. Do not infer anything about the app's content from this source.
Transmission timeline
- 2013
Yik Yak is founded, per the article.
- 2017-04-16
An SEC filing records Square's agreement.
- 2017-04-28
The founders post a farewell note and announce the shutdown that week.
Why it matters
An anonymous, location-based social app ended with a licence-and-hiring deal that was a small fraction of its earlier valuation.
What remains uncertain
The article states a 2014 valuation 'approaching' 400 million dollars, not a precise figure. A later return of the name (reported elsewhere) is not covered here.
Sources and evidence
- TechCrunch: Yik Yak shuts down after Square paid $1 million for its engineers
Farewell note, SEC filing of 16 April, 1 million dollar payment, 73.4 million raised per Crunchbase, valuation near 400 million in 2014.
Editorial review: 2026-10-22. New evidence may change this account.