Yup, which considers itself a web- 3.0 social media platform with a focus on cryptocurrency, recently announced it had raised $3.5 million in an investment round. According to the announcement, Yup had finalized a funding round led by Distributed Global, an early investor in crypto-focused unicorns Audius, Dapper Labs, and Solana.
Use of the Funds
Yup plans to use funds from its recent investment round to develop its Web3-native social media experience. It will also focus on empowering curators across the web. During the funding round, other key players in distributed ledger technology (DLT) also joined in. Other participants included LD Capital, Dapper Labs, and several other angels.
We're excited to announce that we've raised a $3.5M seed round led by @DistributedG alongside @dapperlabs and other fantastic funds and angels. @dazuck @patrickxrivera @alexgausman @nadertheory @tomebendo @stefdelev @the_carlosdp
So why Yup? 🧵https://t.co/jPA3L7VxbM pic.twitter.com/OodZZnGOYk
— Yup (@yup_io) October 12, 2021
What is Yup?
Yup is designed as a social media platform for curators. The platform collects hundreds of thousands of likes every week. Thus far, the network has rewarded over 1.6 million members of curating content across Web2 and Web3. It aims to reward curators using a reputation mechanism for helping to surface quality content as well as creators for producing it. The protocol will then create a social score out of 100 for Web3 addresses, NFTs, tweets, and any other interaction, based on who engages with them.
According to Yup, most social media platforms focus on content creators first. However, tastemakers and curators are often overlooked despite providing huge value to these platforms. It aims to empower tastemakers via its key feature called Collections. Through this feature, users can curate content into a topic they chose and showcase it via Yup. Anything goes, including old-school movies and NFTs.
For Yup, that is just the beginning. With curators incentivized to curate content, there is a unique opportunity to reward users who sort signals from the noise. By doing so, they aim to lay the foundation for sourcing, measuring, and rewarding value on the internet.
There is an NFT Up for Auction
As part of their celebrations, Yup partnered with Lucas Zanotto, an artist and designer to create an animation, which is up for sale as an NFT.
Looking To The Future
Yup believes that Web3 offers numerous opportunities for curation with clear financial incentives. Creators of Yup believe that curation will extend beyond newsletters and blogs. People will earn money through curation, have the ability to curate, and create “massive economic graphs.”
While discussing the funding round, Anuke Ganegoda, the Business Lead of Dapper Labs stated that:
“We’re big believers in bringing blockchain to everyday users.” He added that “Coupled with the exciting growth of the NFT space, social media and NFT curation might push web3 to the mainstream.”
Summary
To date, Yup has raised $23.5 million in all funding rounds. They already have an active platform and have managed to distribute over $300,000 to NFT curators. According to Yup, some individuals have earned thousands of dollars via their platform. Thus far, the future looks great for Yup and its goal to lay the foundation for Web3 with its focus on curators.
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