Eastern European App Factory

A company called Palta builds multiple successful apps by leveraging talented developers in Eastern Europe, with their flagship product Flow becoming the #1 period tracking app globally, reaching $192M in ARR with 60M active users.

Key Points:

• Leadership & Origins:

  • Founded by twin brothers from Belarus/Lithuania
  • Started by teaching themselves to code and publishing books
  • Began making apps when iPhone App Store launched in 2008

• Business Model:

  • Create multiple apps under one holding company (Palta)
  • Leverage cost-efficient but highly skilled Eastern European talent
  • Focus on underserved markets with high potential

• Key Apps in Portfolio:

  • Flow - Women's health super app ($192M ARR)
  • Zing - Health/wellness app
  • Prisma - Photo editor app
  • Several other successful health/wellness apps

• Competitive Advantages:

  • Talent arbitrage: Can hire 10 talented European developers for the cost of 1 San Francisco engineer
  • Operating as the "big fish in small pond" in Eastern Europe
  • Strong technical talent pool in the region
  • Highly cost-efficient operations

• Growth Strategy:

  • Start with basic functionality (like period tracking for Flow)
  • Expand into broader offerings (women's health super app)
  • Build multiple successful apps using same infrastructure and learnings
  • Raised $100M Series B for the holding company