MOTHER.tech launches Degen AI app with invite access

MOTHER.tech has launched Degen, an AI content creation app for iOS and Android, available through an invite-code system.

The launch comes as the Brooklyn-based company says it has raised a total of USD $15 million from investors including Google Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Box Group and Shine Capital.

Degen is designed to let users create images, videos, memes, carousels and text with a single tap. The app centres on what MOTHER.tech calls a "gen", a modular creative system built around particular aesthetics, subcultures and content formats.

Users select a generator and adapt it with their own photos, references or text. Multiple AI models run in the background, aiming to remove the need for prompt writing or advanced editing skills.

Creator model

Each generator is designed by a creator such as an artist, photographer or designer, turning an individual visual style into a reusable tool. MOTHER.tech is also testing a revenue-sharing model in which creators receive a share when their generators are used.

Users access each gen through tokens that can be bought or earned through referrals. The creator programme remains in pilot.

One of the early participants is street photographer Brian Alcazar, known as @1st, whose work on car culture has been adapted into generators including one called Gassed Up. The company says the approach is intended to let users create work in a creator's style through a simplified interface.

Private channels

The app also moves away from the public-feed structure used by larger social platforms. Content created on Degen is private by default and organised into channels rather than an algorithmic feed.

These channels can be private or public and are grouped around interests, aesthetics or friendship circles. A "Today" tab highlights featured drops, popular gens and work from followed users, while creations can also be downloaded for use elsewhere.

Users can remix and combine gens from different creators and store previous versions in a private library. MOTHER.tech presents the product as a place for experimentation rather than polished publishing.

Founders' view

MOTHER.tech was founded in 2023 by Kelsey Falter, Raissa Chagas and Miles Seiver. The founders previously worked inside major technology platforms and started the business with a focus on new consumer tools for creating and sharing online.

Its team is spread across the US, Brazil and Europe, with backgrounds in art, performance, data, design, culture and product engineering. Degen is the company's first app launch, following the earlier announcement of its first games title, Le Zoo.

Raissa Chagas outlined the thinking behind the product in a statement on the launch.

"We spent years inside the biggest platforms and saw how the systems actually work - quietly taking more from users than they give back," said Raissa Chagas, Co-founder of MOTHER.tech and a social media native creator. "Degen is the app we wanted to exist. Growing up, the internet felt like a creative playground with less pressure. This app opens that experience again. I'm having fun regenerating myself by degenerating. Less production, more play. Not everyone wants to perform anymore; it's okay to be unhinged. It feels new and relaxed for the first time in a while."