• by Colin Kirkland , April 3, 2025

Famed American entrepreneur and former owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban has funded a pre-seed round for Skylight, a decentralized TikTok alternative built on the AT Protocol, Bluesky’s open-source ecosystem.

Shortly after U.S. lawmakers announced the passage of a bill that would effectively ban TikTok in the region if it was not sold by an American buyer, Cuban publicly shared his desire to fund an alternative app built on the AT Protocol, which allows developers to connect their creations to a larger ecosystem of servers and apps, including Bluesky’s social network. 

Venture capitalist Leslie Feinzaig’s Graham & Walker Venture Fund also invested in Skylight, which is planning to launch its mobile app on Tuesday after only 10 weeks of active development. 

Skylight says it will offer users TikTok-adjacent features like an in-app video editor, customizable user profiles, and the ability to comment, like, share videos and follow other users. 

Upon joining Skylight, users will be automatically connected to Bluesky’s social network of almost 34 million users. Consequently, posts on Skylight can be seen by users on Bluesky and other apps built on the AT Protocol. 

The creators of Skylight -- Tori White (CEO) and Reed Harmeyer (CTO) -- became interested in the AT Protocol when they used Bluesky, impressed by the platform’s user experience and underlying technology. 

According to TechCrunch, White and Harmeyer wanted to build a social platform that could be “ban-proof.” Due to its connection to the AT Protocol, they envision the app’s future as more customizable than TikTok. 

The app is currently in beta on the Google Play Store and is public on Apple’s App Store after initial testing.