Buy'r Surpasses 50,000 Users in First Week and Climbs to #1 on the App Store, Signaling a Cultural Shift Toward Economic Transparency

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Jan 21, 2026, 16:54 ET

Buy'r gives consumers instant clarity on who actually owns the brands they buy

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Buy'r, a new consumer transparency app that reveals who truly owns everyday products, announced today that it surpassed 50,000 downloads in its first week and reached #1 in the App Store's Health & Fitness category on launch day. Built by a three-person founding team and fully self-funded, Buy'r enters the market at a moment when public trust in corporations is at historic lows and consumers increasingly want to align their purchases with their values.

The premise is simple: scan a barcode, learn who profits. No health scores, no political slant, no affiliate-driven recommendations, just factual corporate lineage data that has traditionally been buried behind subsidiaries, shell companies, and brand portfolios that most shoppers never see.

A Simple Tool Solving a Real Information Gap

"People want to vote with their dollars, but most have no idea who owns what in the grocery aisle," said Kevin Muise, Co-Founder of Buy'r. "Buy'r doesn't tell you what to think. It just shows you the ownership facts so you can make your own decisions."

Co-founder Ian Carroll, a consumer transparency advocate with over 4 million followers, originally built a public spreadsheet mapping ownership across hundreds of brands. When John Akin and Kevin Muise discovered consumers already using the spreadsheet as a shopping companion, the three combined forces to build an actual, intuitive tool.

Over 60,000 people signed up for beta access, and Buy'r spent eight months iterating directly with household shoppers, parents, small-business owners, health-conscious consumers, and supply-chain skeptics.

Unbiased by Design

While the app offers an optional paid tier, the company emphasizes that ownership data will always remain free.

"Staying self-funded isn't a philosophy, it's a requirement of remaining trustworthy," said Carroll. "The moment a conglomerate or investor with an agenda gets involved, transparency becomes selective. That defeats the entire purpose."

Buy'r presents ownership information without nudging users toward "good" or "bad" brands, a stance that deliberately rejects the trend of rating-based apps and sponsored product steering.

Early Traction Shows Demand for Truth Over Narratives

In addition to user growth, Buy'r has already built one of the most active consumer transparency communities online:

68,000 Buy'r User Signups
60,000 Beta Signups
30k Social Followers
3,000+ in Discord
$100K in ARR within 12 days via optional subscriptions

The engagement is unusually high for a utility app, indicating that Buy'r is tapping into a larger cultural frustration: consumers feel they are shopping in the dark.

A Growing Movement, Not Just an App

Ownership transparency is quickly becoming a consumer priority. Concerns about conglomerate consolidation, disappearing independent brands, global supply chains, and hidden corporate linkages have made people more conscious about where their money goes.

Buy'r positions itself not as a lifestyle brand or political tool but as a public utility for the modern consumer.

"Every single person buys food, household goods, and personal items. Every purchase enriches someone. The question is: who?" said Muise. "Information is power only if people can access it."

Looking Ahead: Scaling Toward 1 Million Users

The Buy'r team is targeting 1 million users by summer 2026 and plans to introduce additional free and premium features that deepen product discovery, expand ownership mapping, and provide more context on conglomerate influence without compromising neutrality.

User feedback, particularly through the Discord community, is expected to continue shaping the roadmap.

About Buy'r

Buy'r is a consumer transparency app that reveals true corporate ownership behind everyday products using simple barcode scanning. Founded in 2025 by Ian Carroll, Kevin Muise, and John Akin, Buy'r empowers users to make informed purchasing decisions aligned with their values. The company is fully self-funded and independent to maintain unbiased data presentation.

Download Buy'r for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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