One of the first investments of Alexis Ohanian’s new early-stage venture firm Seven Seven Six, that has $150M to deploy, is in Zebra, an app that lets people share photos paired with a voice message, per an article in Techcrunch.

No video just audio.  Founded by CEO Dennis Gecaj, a product designer based in Berlin, and Amer Shahnawaz, the lead engineer, Zebra is betting on the power of voice over video, leaving the latter out of the app’s equation altogether.

“It’s no secret that we are in the midst of an audio revolution, one that has ushered in a series of new audio-first social platforms and content vehicles,” Ohanian said.  He noted that Zebra’s unique blend of photos and voice got his attention.

$1.1M raise.  The company announced a pre-seed funding of $1.1M led by the founder of Reddit’s new firm.  Zebra’s Gecaj is betting that Zebra’s dual focus on voice and photos may attract people who aren’t as interested in video, aka TikTok.

How does the app work?  You snap a pic and record a voice message by pressing down on the pic.  The creation is called a ‘talking photo.’  Your friends get the pic and the voice note at the same time and can respond by pressing down on the pic and recording a reply.

It’s definitely a unique form of photo sharing that is naturally set up for growth if the concept takes.

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