Remove Social Remove Video Remove Virtualization
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Virtual social network IMVU raises $35M from China’s NetEase and others

TechCrunch

The line between social networking and gaming is increasingly blurring , and internet incumbents are taking notice. NetEase, the second-largest gaming company in China (behind Tencent), is among a group of investors who just backed IMVU, an avatar-focused social network operating out of California.

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Cosmos Video – a ‘Club Penguin for adults’ to socialise and work – raises $2.6M from LocalGlobe

TechCrunch

All over the world startups are piling into the space marked “virtual interaction and collaboration”. Step forward Cosmos Video , which has a virtual venues platform that allows people to work, hang out and socialize together. Cosmos allows users to create virtual venues by combining game mechanics with video chat.

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Epic Games to shut down Houseparty in October, including the video chat ‘Fortnite Mode’ feature

TechCrunch

Houseparty, the social video chat app acquired by Fortnite maker Epic Games for a reported $35 million back in 2019, is shutting down. Related to this move, Epic Games’ “ Fortnite Mode” feature , which leveraged Houseparty to bring video chat to Fortnite gamers, will also be discontinued.

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Kumospace raises new cash to replace physical offices with virtual ones

TechCrunch

Brett Martin, the co-founder and president of Kumospace, believes a core piece to easing the transition is workplace collaboration tools — especially video chat tools that foster a “virtual office” feeling. He’s biased, of course — Kumospace sells a video chat platform. Image Credits: Kumospace.

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VUZ raises $20 million to scale its immersive social app

TechCrunch

VUZ , a social app that allows users to stream and experience immersive realism in extended reality (XR) and metaverse digital experiences, has raised $20 million in Series B investment. The platform offers over 20,000 hours of content covering entertainment, creators, sports, and XR, VR, and AR experiences virtually anywhere in the world.

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Virtual HQs race to win over a remote-work-fatigued market

TechCrunch

Yet, to a growing number of entrepreneurs in the Valley, when one physical door closes, a virtual one opens. With the goal of making remote work more spontaneous, there are dozens of new startups working to create virtual HQs for distributed teams. Companies within the virtual HQ world sit on a spectrum.

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FlyMachine raises $21 million to build a virtual concerts platform for a post-pandemic world

TechCrunch

As concerts and live events return to the physical world stateside, many in the tech industry have wondered whether some of the pandemic-era opportunities around virtualizing these events are lost for the time being. The virtual concert industry didn’t have as big of a lockdown moment as some hoped for.