The Backplane

The Backplane, Inc. was a US social-network-builder startup (founded 2011) that built branded social networks for fan groups and organizations, most notably Lady Gaga's Little Monsters community, and later pivoted to the Place.xyz network-building platform. Backed by Battery Ventures, GV, Sequoia, Greylock and others, it raised roughly $18.9M before running out of money, going out of business in April 2016 and selling all of its assets (patents, code, trademarks, URLs). The company is defunct; enrichment found no live website, developer portal, API, specification, or SDK surface to catalog.

The Backplane is profiled on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include Company, Social Network, Fan Community, Defunct, and Battery Ventures Portfolio.

📡 Source on GitHub
0 APIs
CompanySocial NetworkFan CommunityDefunctBattery Ventures Portfolio

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: the-backplane
deliveryModel:
  model: unknown
  open_source: false
  commercial: false
  callable_host: false
  label: Delivery model not determined — needs a product licence on record
  confidence: low
  source:
  - none
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/the-backplane.png
name: The Backplane
description: The Backplane, Inc. was a US social-network-builder startup (founded 2011) that built branded social networks
  for fan groups and organizations, most notably Lady Gaga's Little Monsters community, and later pivoted to the Place.xyz
  network-building platform. Backed by Battery Ventures, GV, Sequoia, Greylock and others, it raised roughly $18.9M before
  running out of money, going out of business in April 2016 and selling all of its assets (patents, code, trademarks, URLs).
  The company is defunct; enrichment found no live website, developer portal, API, specification, or SDK surface to catalog.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/the-backplane/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- battery-ventures
x-tier: stub
x-tier-reason: portfolio-lead
x-status: defunct
x-status-note: Went out of business April 2016; assets sold. No live API surface.
specificationVersion: '0.23'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-21'
tags:
- Company
- Social Network
- Fan Community
- Defunct
- Battery Ventures Portfolio
apis: []
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-21'
  status: nochange
  artifacts_added: 0
  pass: local-v1

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