Co-founder of Atlanta’s now-defunct Yik Yak joins board of new app

Yik Yak co-founder Tyler Droll discussed the app during the ChooseATL South By Southwest Interactive panel at the Speakeasy in Austin, Texas, on March 13, 2016.

Credit: John Clark

Credit: John Clark

Yik Yak co-founder Tyler Droll discussed the app during the ChooseATL South By Southwest Interactive panel at the Speakeasy in Austin, Texas, on March 13, 2016.

The co-founder of a defunct Atlanta-based app has joined the board of directors for Relevnt, an app that connects users with local news sources.

Tyler Droll helped Yik Yak, a social-networking tool that was reportedly valued at $400 million in 2015, rise to popularity among college students. However, declines in usage prompted significant layoffs in Decemeber 2016 before the company shut down operations in April 2017.

Like Yik Yak, the Florida-based Relevnt is a location-based mobile network. It provides users with local articles and content based on their indicated interests, such as news, performing arts and sports.

The company is “excited to leverage” Droll’s experience, Relevnt CEO Winder Hughes said.

"Given the huge success that Yik Yak had in building large, engaged audiences on college campuses across the country, we're thrilled to have Tyler join our board," Hughes said in a press release.

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Droll co-founded Yik Yak with his Furman University fraternity brother Brooks Buffington; the pair both went to high school in metro Atlanta.

“Relevnt is taking some of the core concepts that we had planned for Yik Yak and turned them into reality,” Droll said in the statement.

Relevnt, which launched in June 2017, can be downloaded on the Apple app store here.

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