Social community

Polly

Website

Polly is a fun social polling app for teens. The app allows users to create multiple-choice polls for sharing on Snapchat and other platforms. Polly launched in stealth in August and it quickly became popular among teens, with 20 million people voting over 100 million times across 5 million polls in the past month. In addition to being a ca

Founded 2015Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

Polly is a fun social polling app for teens. The app allows users to create multiple-choice polls for sharing on Snapchat and other platforms.

Polly launched in stealth in August and it quickly became popular among teens, with 20 million people voting over 100 million times across 5 million polls in the past month.

In addition to being a casual social tool, Polly can also be used to gather opinions about popular brands. For instance, Polly received thousands of responses from teens on some of its own polls related to topics such as breakfast cereals and Starbucks drinks. Brands and influencers can also create their own polls to gather feedback from consumers.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08
Social communityConsumer appConsumersConsumerAdvertising

Founders & team

Previously Whale, Polly.Fun, The Artist Union ( F.K.A Polly/Whale), Polly (formerly Whale)

Company history As recorded 2026-11-08

Ranidu Lankage

Founder/CEO

I founded Polly (45M+ users) /Whale YC S17 and Audius, a decentralized audio protocol with over 10M MAU.

LinkedIn X
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15

Vicc Alexander

Founder, Head of Mobile & Design

In 2017, Vicc co-founded Polly, a Snapchat-integrated polling app that participated in Y Combinator’s S17 batch and reached more than 40 million teens worldwide within two weeks of launch. Before Polly, he co-founded Whale, a video Q&A app, alongside Justin Kan. In 2016, he also worked with Marlon Lopez and Saul Lopez to build LooBot, an SMS-based AI assistant that helped people without reliable WiFi access find nearby gender-neutral restrooms and charging stations.

LinkedIn X
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15

James Zhang

Founder

I’m currently building ChatGPT at OpenAI. I previously spent 8 years at Stripe and Notion. Before that, I went through YC S17 and co-founded Polly (used by 45M+ teens) and Whale (short-form video Q&A).

LinkedIn X
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
3team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2015 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthverified profile
Website observationwebsite unreachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedSan Francisco, CA, USA
Pricing evidenceNo pricing page confirmed
Maturity: Not assessed · 3 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The source reports an inactive or acquired company; current product identity needs review.

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
independent websitesource corroborationdescriptive evidenceclassified market and modelsourced peoplesourced founding year
startup.observe Directory coverage · Sources & method