Gander, the social networking app positioned as a Canadian alternative to Meta or X, has hit its crowdfunding goal.
Interest in the project is so high Gander has extended its crowdfunding deadline to January, rather than closing in mid-December.
Ben Waldman, Gander Social’s CEO, posted to LinkedIn on Wednesday that the team surpassed $1.5 million in equity crowdfunding Tuesday night. Another roughly $300,000 in investments were processing as of the time of writing, putting the likely total close to $2 million. Waldman said the level of interest in the project is so high Gander has extended its crowdfunding deadline to January, rather than closing in mid-December.
The company had crossed the $1-million mark just last month.
Gander says it’s targeting a captive market of the more than 30 million Canadians who use social media apps for more than two hours a day, and many of whom may be searching for alternatives to the United States tech giants. The company’s platform will be designed, built, and hosted in Canada, on Canadian servers, with a focus on privacy. It will be built on decentralized, open-source protocols like AT, which is currently used by Bluesky.
Gander is raising its funding through FrontFundr, a Toronto-based crowdfunding platform that allows members of the public to crowdsource investing into private companies.
Interested investors are able to buy in with as little as $255, at a price of $1.50 per share, which grants them access to a private owners group within the social platform, extra invites to bring users onto the platform before its public release, and access to Gander’s annual general meeting.
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Waldman has said that raising equity from the Canadian public is in line with the app’s mission of collaborative ownership. Or, to put it in a very Canadian way, he hopes to “just give’r.”
The app counts notable Canadians among its strategic advisors, including business media personalities Arlene Dickinson and Amber Mac. More than 34,000 people have signed up for its early access waitlist, which launched this spring. Gander is registered as a public benefit company in BC, meaning its mandate is focused on social or environmental benefit as well as profit. Benefit companies are structured similarly to non-profits, with additional transparency and accountability requirements, and commit to doing business in a “responsible and sustainable” manner.
Waldman said in a recent social post that the app is currently undergoing testing. “Is it beautiful? Yes. Is it buggy? Also yes. But it’s finally in our hands to pull apart, test, and report on while we invite our beta testers to do the same,” he wrote on LinkedIn in October.
The company previously told BetaKit that it plans to beta test the app this winter, before a public launch in the first quarter of 2026.
With files from Alex Riehl
Feature image courtesy Gander Social.