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Letterboxd
Where 29 million people log and review films.
Based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Key facts
- Joined Tiny
- 2023held 3 years
- Founded by
- Matthew Buchanan & Karl von Randow
- Based in
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Website
- letterboxd.com
About Letterboxd
Letterboxd was founded in 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, two long-time web designers and developers who wanted a better way to keep track of the films they watched. What started as a personal diary for cinephiles grew over the next decade into the de facto social network for film — a place where critics, directors, and casual moviegoers alike rate movies, write reviews, build watchlists, and follow each other's taste.
By 2023, Letterboxd had grown to more than 10 million members. A-list directors posted their year-end lists on the platform, "adding it to my Letterboxd" had replaced "I'll check it out" for a generation of moviegoers, and the company had become profitable while still operating as a small, focused team from New Zealand.
Tiny acquired Letterboxd in 2023, in a deal that kept Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in their roles leading the company and kept the team based in Auckland. The platform has since continued to grow rapidly — surpassing 29 million registered users in Q1 2026 — while preserving the editorial voice, design sensibility, and community-first product decisions that made it work in the first place.
Why Letterboxd fits Tiny
Letterboxd is the kind of company Tiny actively looks for — a profitable, founder-led consumer product with a deeply engaged community and a clear identity. The product is loved by its users because the team has consistently resisted the temptation to optimize for engagement at the expense of taste.
Matt and Karl wanted a partner who understood what they'd built and wanted to help grow it without changing its character. Tiny's model — long-term ownership, founder autonomy, no pressure to flip the company in three to five years — fit naturally. The team in Auckland continues to run the platform, ship features, and curate the community exactly as they did before the acquisition.