Talk about great timing: Enigma has become the go-to app over the last month for people to share and discover videos of the mysterious drones flooding the Northeast skies.
The New York-based company has many similarities to the popular app Citizen: Enigma invites users to post videos of what they’re seeing and provide the location of where they’re seeing it.
And as government officials remain coy about just what is going on above New Jersey, New York and elsewhere, the app has hit nearly a million downloads; in the last month alone, there has been a 74% increase in the number of total videos uploaded, a company spokesperson said.
“People are seeing things and they’re scared and they don’t know where to send it,” said Christine Kim, the company’s spokesperson. “We’re trying to create a place and community for people to discuss and have a place to talk about it.”
Enigma also uses the updated terminology “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP) rather than UFOS, which people have come to associate with flying saucers and little green men.
“We’re normalizing the behavior of seeing something and talking about it,” Kim adds.
Enigma has a human on staff review all videos before allowing them to post on the app, in an effort to weed out hoaxes.
The company, which launched last year on the Lower East Side, is coming onto the scene at a time when whistleblowers suggest there could be something out there. Last month, former government testified in a Congressional hearing that the Pentagon wasn’t fully disclosing what it knows about alien aircraft it has recovered.
Paul Sprieser, 56, a Merchant Marine captain who lives in North Bergen, NJ, downloaded the app once he began seeing UAP-like floating orange orbs in the sky last month.
“It validates what you’re seeing… you can [communicate with] other people who are posting a video of the same thing… it’s great to communicate about this,” he explains.
Enigma, whose employees come from major companies like Meta, American Express and the trendy startup Tia, has raised money (the amount is not disclosed) from some of the biggest names in venture capital including a16z and Kindred Ventures. The company is pre-revenue— which means it’s focused on growing before trying to make money.
Meanwhile, Enigma has a mystery of its own: Its founder remains anonymous and simply goes by the initial “A.” Whoever she is, it’s possible she could get all this information the app has collected into the right hands. NYNext is told “A” met with the team that compiled a report about UAPs for NASA that was released last year. While the company doesn’t have government contracts to date, “A” said that she does “speak regularly, informally with gov folks.”
This story is part of NYNext, a new editorial series that highlights New York City innovation across industries, as well as the personalities leading the way.