TECH CRUNCH - A startup called JobGet is announcing $52M in funding to fuel its ambitions to build a similar kind of go-to hub for a related sector of the labor market: waged or hourly workers. Built specifically for them, JobGet provides them with listings for jobs and an opportunity to connect with others doing similar work; access for recruiters to tap people for openings they might have; and down the line more tools such as training and development to help them along with their own career ladders. JobGet has racked up 2M downloads of its mobile app, with a further 10M using its website.
JobGet Raises $52M With Ambitions to Be the LinkedIn for Shift Workers
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Clubhouse Tests Private Groups, Part of a Bid to Regain Relevance
BLOOMBERG - Clubhouse is experimenting with a new feature that lets users join private groups. The feature, known internally as Social Clubs or Houses, would let anyone in a group join the conversation. With Houses, Clubhouse appears to be encouraging friendlier social interaction within private groups of users. Instead of only live, ephemeral audio rooms, members of a House can post in a written group chat, where messages stay visible for a week before disappearing.
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Reddit Upgrades Reddit Talk With a Soundboard, New Discovery Features
TECH CRUNCH - Reddit Talk, the social site's Clubhouse-like social audio product, is rolling out a handful of updates aimed at allowing hosts to better engage with listeners. Among these is a new soundboard for audio effects and a topic selector, that allows hosts to select up to three topics for their talks. It's also testing a way for hosts to start a live show straight from their profile. The company also announced its Reddit Talk Host Program, which helps new hosts have their audio shows found, will kick off on July 11th.
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Instagram Tests Child Age Verification, but Falls Short of Full ID Checks
WALL STREET JOURNAL - Meta said that if users of Instagram try to edit their dates of birth so that they are deemed to be over 18, it will now require additional verification. Instagram is testing three options: requiring users to upload IDs; ask adult Instagram friends to vouch for their ages; or submit videos of their faces that will be analyzed to estimate age. Instagram is adding these extra steps as part of its efforts to ensure an "age-appropriate" experience for minors. While children under 13 are prohibited by the network's terms of service, those who say they are ages 13 to 17 can use it with some limitations.
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Tencent Joins Metaverse Race With 'Extended Reality' Division
TECH MONITOR - Tencent has created an 'extended reality' division that will develop hardware and services for the metaverse. Tencent's extended reality division was set up last year, insiders said, but has so far been "shrouded in secrecy". The unit will eventually have 300 staff despite an ongoing cost-cutting drive at the company. Tencent's extended reality division is working on a headset, marking its first venture into hardware, as well as software. The division is a "passion project" of Tencent founder Pony Ma, who has described the metaverse as an "all-real internet".
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MyPlace Names Aaron Zifkin as the Brand's First President and COO
PR NEWSWIRE - MyPlace, the fast-growing social network connecting friends to share their homes, has hired Aaron Zifkin to fill the newly created role of President and COO. Zifkin has most recently held roles as the Managing Director for Lyft in Canada and the Regional Director of the Americas at Airbnb. In this role, Zifkin's priority will be to effectively scale MyPlace's mission to help people share their homes with their friends and communities around the world. After raising $5.8M in Seed Funding earlier this year, MyPlace is focused on its global launch.
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Decentralized Social Network Soclly Launches Beta Version for Web3 Creators
ECONOMIC TIMES - Decentralized social network Soclly has announced the launch of its beta version for Web3 creators, influencers, and educators. Serial entrepreneurs Prayag Singh, Naresh Katta, and Charan Kumar Borra launched Soclly when they realized that Web3 creators need a platform where they can engage with their followers and monetize the same. As an initial offering, Web3 creators can register and mention their available time slot along with their fee. To book their favorite Web3 creator for 30 minutes, requesters need to pay fees via stable coins such as USDT, USDC, and DAI.
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MetaJuice to Launch Integrated NFT Marketplace on IMVU Metaverse
NFT EVENING - MetaJuice has announced the launch of a fully merged NFT Marketplace onto the social media IMVU metaverse. The official statement comes during the NFT.NYC gathering, and in Q3, ~1M daily active users will have access to the NFT marketplace. The NFT marketplace will give IMVU users the ability to monetize their platform in several ways. IMVU is an online virtual world and social networking platform founded in 2004. Now, it is a metaverse space with ~200K active IMVU creators. It is a top 5 grossing app in the iOS/Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
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Twitter Partners With Shopify to Bring Merchants' Products to Twitter Shopping
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter announced a new partnership with Shopify. The deal will see Twitter launching a sales channel app that will be made available to all of Shopify's U.S. merchants through its app store. The app allows merchants to onboard themselves to Twitter's Shopping Manager, the dashboard offered by the social media company where sellers can access product catalog tools and enable other shopping features for their profiles.
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Afropolitan Raises $2.1M to Build a Digital Nation
TEKEDIA - Afropolitan, a community-as-a-service startup that wants to build a digital nation for Africans in Metaverse, announced that it has raised $2.1M to build an Afro Digital Nation. Afropolitan was founded by Eche Emole and Chika Uwazie to build a network comprising the best that Africa and the diaspora offer across art, finance, tech, health, sports, and media. Afropolitan wants to be the first-ever internet country in the future. Afropolitan's objective is to solve the Crisis of Legitimacy experienced by Africans worldwide by building a new source of Legitimacy embodied in Digital Nation.
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