Alfonso Cobo (born 1992,

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, Spain) is a Spanish businessman. He is best known as the founder of Unfold, which was acquired by Squarespace in 2019.

Early life

Alfonso was born in the

, Spain and spent much of his childhood in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

before moving to the United Kingdom at 17.

Career

As a university student, Cobo studied design and architecture. After working as an architectural designer in London, Cobo received a scholarship to

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

and moved to New York. Cobo has a master's degree in strategic design and management from Parsons School of Design and a bachelor's degree in architecture from the

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...

. In 2017, Cobo recognized there was no software or app that could create a portfolio of his work on an

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

. Later that year, he launched his portfolio layout app, the first one to exist for iPad.

Unfold

Cobo founded Unfold in 2018 and was later joined by Andy McCune as a co-founder. Unfold, a mobile application that allows users to create

Instagram Stories Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...

posts using a variety of templates and other tools. It was used by such celebrities as Kim Kardashian, Camila Cabello, Olivia Culpo, Selena Gomez,

Ashley Tisdale Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an American actress and singer. During her childhood, she was featured in over 100 advertisements and had minor roles in television and theatre. She achieved mainstream success as Maddie Fitzpatr ...

, Selena Gomez,

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

, the

Jonas Brothers The Jonas Brothers () are an American pop rock band. Formed in 2005, they gained popularity from their appearances on the Disney Channel television network. They consist of three brothers: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas. Raised in W ...

, and

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

.Alfonso Cobo
''Fast Company''. Unfold has also partnered with Equinox,

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

, and Product Red. In 2019, Unfold was acquired by Squarespace. By then, it had 16 million users. In 2023, Unfold had over 60 million downloads, and over 1 billion stories were created using it. Instagram featured Unfold as a recommended app to help users with their Stories ads. In 2020, Cobo launched Bio Sites with Squarespace, a tool that allows users to share relevant links. Cobo received a

Gaingels Gaingels is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Burlington, Vermont. The firm focuses on investing in companies with diverse and underrepresented (including LGBTQIA+) leadership as well as progressive social values. Pitchbook ranked ...

award in 2023. He also launched Hypelist, a social mobile application, in 2023.

Personal life

Cobo currently lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:cobo, Alfonso Living people 1992 births 21st-century Spanish businesspeople 21st-century Spanish LGBT people Alumni of the University of Brighton Architects from Madrid Businesspeople from Madrid Businesspeople in technology Parsons School of Design alumni Spanish company founders Spanish LGBT businesspeople Spanish gay men Gay businessmen