Yup, the Web 3.0 social platform that rewards curators, has confirmed that it has finalized a $3.5 million round that was led by Distributed Global, which is an early investor in crypto-focused Unicorns Dapper Labs, Audius and Solana.
The proceeds from the investment round will be directed towards further developing a Web3-native social media experience and “empower curators across the web.”
The round was also joined by key players in the distributed ledger tech (DLT) space, including Dapper Labs, LD Capital, and several founder angels.
Yup is a social network that “rewards and recognizes tastemakers for curating content across web2 and web3 platforms like Twitter, Youtube, Opensea, Mirror, and others.” The announcement also mentioned that the protocol aims “to monetize the value generated by influencers and social media users who surface quality content.”
Most social media platforms are focusing on content creators first, “with curators and tastemakers often getting overlooked despite providing massive value to their platforms and following.”
Since its launch, Yup has reportedly distributed more than $1.6 million in curator rewards. They’ve managed to build a strong relationship with the NFT community, “rewarding over $300,000 to NFT curators, with some individuals earning thousands of dollars in $YUP.”
“We’re incredibly excited to partner with industry leaders to build the next generation of Web3 social,” stated Nir Kabessa, Co-founder of Yup.
Kabessa added:
“Our mission is to unlock the social capital tied to individuals’ tastes and curation. Curators are largely undervalued on web2 social media platforms and Yup plans to empower and reward them.”
“In our view, Web3 social is one of the most exciting categories and we believe Yup is positioning itself to be a leader,” noted Johnny Steindorff of Distributed Global.
“We’re big believers in bringing blockchain to everyday users,” added Anuke Ganegoda, Business Lead of Dapper Labs.
Ganegoda also mentioned:
“Coupled with the exciting growth of the NFT space, social media and NFT curation might push web3 to the mainstream.”
Alex Price, who pre-seeded Yup and is currently a Special Advisor at A16z Crypto, said:
“Traditional social networks thrive on privileged and minimally accessible user data silos. Their business models depend on them. Yup, as a fully open and composable Web3 social network has the opportunity to empower builders and visionaries of the next great social applications.”