moonlightA note from the founder
People ask me two questions about Moonlight more than any other: how it makes money, and whether it will still be here next year. Both deserve a straight answer, so here it is.
Is Moonlight free?
The map is free. Everyone in the beta sees the reports and the Sis Havens the moment they go up, and can post a report. That stays free, because a map of what happens in public only works when everyone can read it.
Later there will be paid plans, for people who want more than the map: more room for the people they choose, and the comforts around the walk home. The map and the reports stay the same on every plan. The beta has no paid plan; nobody pays anything before the public launch.
Why does a safety app cost money at all?
Because Moonlight is small and, for what it does, expensive to run.
Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map. Identity checks cost money per check. Keeping your data safe costs too. The people who do this work are paid for their time, the same way anyone reading this expects to be paid for theirs.
Some people asked in our first survey whether it is right to charge for something like this. I understand the question. My answer comes from the eighteen safety apps we studied before building Moonlight. Four of them are gone or asleep. All four had good ideas. What they ran out of was funding: a sponsor left, nobody paid, the updates stopped. A tool that is still here next year protects people. Being here costs money.
Where does the rest of the money come from?
From the Partner tab, and only from there.
Sis Havens, the venues that let a person step inside when something feels wrong outside, pay nothing. Businesses that make something our members would want, such as a self-defence class or a product we have tried ourselves, can be listed in the Partners tab. During the beta the listing is free. Later a listing can be paid, and every paid listing is marked as paid. Every member sees the same tab.
That is the one place in Moonlight where anyone pays to be seen. The map and the reports belong to the members.
What happens to my data?
It stays with you and with the people who keep the map working.
Your reports are read by our moderators and shown on the map without your name, pinned at a street or a station and never at a door. The people you choose in the app, and where you are, stay between you and your phone.
What we look at is the pattern: where things happen, and when. Researchers only ever receive numbers that lead to nobody.
Why not take money from advertisers like everyone else?
Because a company answers to whoever pays it.
If advertisers paid for Moonlight, the map would end up serving them: which reports get seen, which areas look good, which businesses get placed. Because members pay, Moonlight serves members. It is that simple, and it is why we set it up this way from day one.
What about investors?
Moonlight was built with the founders' own money and a small angel investment. We are raising a round to build the app properly and pay the people who run it. Investors get a share of the company. The map stays with the members. The rules on this page are part of how we work, and an investor who agrees with them is the investor we want.
Where does this leave you?
You pay for Moonlight, or you use the free map that the paying members carry. Either way, you are the user, and Moonlight works for you.
If any of this changes, this page changes first, and I will tell you why.
Firly Maulana, founder
Want to help?
Venues: if your café, bar, shop or studio would let someone step inside when something feels off, become a Sis Haven. It costs nothing. moonlightapp.de/sis-haven
Businesses: if you make something that helps on the way home and want our members to find it, ask about the Partner tab. moonlightapp.de/partners
Investors: if you would like to invest in Moonlight, write to Firly directly: hello@moonlightapp.de
Moonlight is a small team in Berlin. Every link above lands with a person.