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Vine co-founder postpones successor v2 for ‘indefinite amount of time’

Vine co-founder postpones successor v2 for ‘indefinite amount of time’

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Citing funding and logistical issues

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Image: Dom Hofmann

Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann announced today that his planned sequel to the popular and now-defunct short-form video app, tentatively called v2, will be postponed for an “indefinite amount of time” while he figures out funding and logistical hurdles. The announcement, made on the v2 forums and reposted this morning by the official v2 Twitter handle, is a disappointing but understanding turn of events. Back in January, Hofmann suggested the app may launch as soon as this summer, which was an ambitious timetable.

Hofmann started the v2 project, in his words, “without a plan” last year, mostly as a way to garner interest in a Vine successor. However, the project received an outpouring of support from Vine fans who’ve bemoaned the death of the app since Twitter shut down the original app in January 2017. Now, Hofmann says that, despite the immense interest in his project, he has to take the time to make sure it doesn’t fall apart before continuing. He cites a need for substantial venture funding to get v2 off the ground after initially thinking he may be able to self-fund it.

“Long story short, in order to work, the v2 project needs to operate as a company with sizable external funding, probably from investors,” Hofmann writes. “This is difficult because I already run an early-stage company that is in the middle of development. Very few backers would be happy with the split attention, and I wouldn’t be either. This is potentially solvable, but it’s going to take time for the space and resources to become available.”

The company Hofmann is referring to is Innerspace VR, a creative immersive entertainment studio he founded after selling Vine to Twitter years ago. Hofmann appears to be keeping his focus on that project and letting v2 simmer on the backburner for now. “The code and ideas still exist, but until everything else comes together, we can’t move forward,” he writes. “Again, this is indefinite, which means that it could take a long time. But it’s necessary. I’m very, very sorry for the disappointment. If it’s any consolation, I think it would have been even more disappointing if this service had been developed and released incorrectly, which is where we were headed. I’d like for us to get it right.”

Hofmann plans to keep the v2 forums online “as a way to continue discussion,” adding that it will be the first place for any and all future announcements regarding v2’s future.