Alternative app marketplace, AltStore, is taking a bold leap forward as it prepares to integrate with the open social web known as the fediverse, linking its users with platforms like Mastodon and Meta’s Threads. This move aims to enable app lovers to receive updates and interact with their favourite developers directly through social networks.
The company also announced its first external funding round—a $6 million Series A investment from Pace Capital, granting the venture firm a 15% stake and paving the way for AltStore to expand its team beyond its co-founders, Riley Testut and Shane Gill. Notably, Flipboard CEO and fediverse advocate, Mike McCue, has joined the startup’s board.
The fresh capital injection will support AltStore’s global expansion, with plans to enter new markets such as Australia, Brazil, and Japan this year. The company, headquartered in New York, is capitalising on the momentum created by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which forced Apple to open its ecosystem to competitors. Since launching, AltStore has grown rapidly, hosting popular third-party apps such as the video game emulator Delta and virtual machine app UTM, a development that reportedly pressured Apple to relax its own App Store restrictions.
AltStore’s partnership with Epic Games in August 2024 further boosted its profile, bringing hit games like Fortnite to its EU storefront, AltStore PAL. The company has also courted controversy and success with the inclusion of adult content, notably hosting Hot Tub, the first iOS app for pornography and currently its top-rated app.
Developers are also drawn to AltStore’s flexible publishing model, which allows self-publishing at no cost and supports various business models—from subscriptions to user donations. As of now, more than 100 developers are active on the platform, surpassing the number on Epic’s alternative game store.
In a bid to deepen engagement, AltStore is launching its own Mastodon server using the ActivityPub protocol, allowing users to follow app updates and announcements from developers across the fediverse. The platform plans to expand this interconnection to Bluesky through nonprofit group A New Social.
Beyond integration, AltStore is giving back to the ecosystem with $500,000 in donations to key fediverse projects, including Mastodon gGmbH, Bridgy Fed, Ivory + Phoenix, and BookWyrm. With “hundreds of thousands of users,” according to Testut, AltStore’s strategy underscores its ambition to redefine how apps are distributed, discovered, and discussed in the evolving digital marketplace