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The third-party app store known as AltStore<\/a>, one of the first companies to offer an alternative app marketplace in the European Union, is preparing to connect its platform with the open social web known as the fediverse.<\/p>\n The move would connect users on other open social apps, like Mastodon or Meta\u2019s Threads, with updates from their favorite apps in a new way.<\/p>\n In addition, the startup is announcing its first funding round from outside investors, with a $6 million Series A from Pace Capital.<\/a> The deal gives the venture firm a 15% equity stake in AltStore and will allow the company to hire a team beyond its co-founders, Riley Testut and Shane Gill.<\/p>\n Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, a fediverse backer, is also now joining the startup\u2019s board.<\/p>\n The founders, now based in New York, say the new capital will help them capitalize on the potential for alternative app stores both in the EU and beyond as new competition laws are passed. Already, the startup has plans to bring its storefront to markets including Australia, Brazil, and Japan this year. To do so, the company needed to bring on more staff, which the new funds now allow.<\/p>\n AltStore has seen notable growth since the EU\u2019s Digital Markets Act (DMA)<\/a> opened up competition in the app store market, forcing tech giants like Apple to permit new rivals to operate. While the startup offers its own third-party apps, led by video game emulator\u00a0Delta<\/a>, it began adding other third-party apps in June 2024. This included the virtual machine app UTM, a move that pressured Apple to open its own App Store to allow virtual machines.<\/p>\n AltStore also partnered with Epic Games in August of last year to bring Fortnite and other mobile games to its EU storefront, AltStore PAL. The company also entered the adult app market this year with the decision to host an app called Hot Tub, which was the first iOS app for pornography and is now its top app.<\/p>\n In April, AltStore began allowing developers to self-publish their apps for free on AltStore PAL, prompting further growth. <\/p>\n AltStore\u2019s founders told TechCrunch that the store now has over 100 developers on board, which is more than Epic Games offers on its alternative games store, for comparison. AltStore, which is not limited to games, attracts a variety of developers, including indies who want to put out apps more as well as those who wouldn\u2019t meet Apple\u2019s stricter requirements, like its adult content restrictions.<\/p>\n Plus, developers like that the store supports different types of business models, whether that\u2019s a more traditional subscription or something where users donate toward the app\u2019s development, for instance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have hundreds of thousands of users,\u201d AltStore co-founder Testut told TechCrunch in an interview. \u201cWonderful and good numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n