Connect.Club Launched a Virtual Networking App with €10M from Embria Ventures Group and $600K from Angel Investors
A new product is being launched by startup Connect.Club. The app for virtual networking allows users to create their own chat spaces in augmented reality. On this new platform, users can gather useful contacts, find a coach, meet for video chatting with the community, and access private, professional groups. The startup received €10M from Cyprus investment companies, the Embria Ventures Group, and $600K from angel investors. It aims to digitize networking to exchange information, develop professional contacts, and improve social skills.
The app is unique in that up to fifty people can gather in a virtual room at the same time. But they will not interfere with each other even though there may be several speakers. In this virtual place, you hear and see only those people who are close to your avatar. To move your avatar, tap where you’d like to go on the screen. On a map of the space, you can see where other people are and move to their location. You can also create your own virtual space that imitates a restaurant, a bar, a garden, or even a beach, and then invite your friends to join. The app uses Twilio technology for high-quality video calls.
According to SensorTower’s analytics, downloads of social apps for keeping in touch with friends increased by more than 1,000% between February and March when most U.S. shelter-in-place orders were first issued. Facebook’s WhatsApp, Apple’s FaceTime, and similar Google apps offer group video chat as well, although FaceTime is limited to iPhones and other Apple devices.
Connect.Club has developed a separate niche with an emphasis on attracting useful contacts. The application is not meaning to be a replacement for Zoom. It’s rather a virtual space where people can build their professional networks by meeting with people having shared interests and goals. The company’s objective is to create a modern platform with users’ personal accounts to help them with their goals for networking. For example, in one application, users could see other people who are in search of a new job or in search of a mentor, startups at the stage of raising investments and seeking investors, and interest clubs and professional communities that are more likely to meet offline or communicate more in chat rooms.
“We want to create a product where every chance to meet somebody can change our history. Connect.Club is for people who may already be a part of various professional communities and chat groups but want to have space where members can communicate using voice and video in a way that emulates real life more realistically. The virtual space that we invented is a convenient form representing that process. For us, it is important that people relax, feel confident, and are not afraid to share useful information and get acquainted.” — Igor Monakhov, Founder & CEO at Connect.Club
Connect.Club also works as a networking application during conferences. Connect.Club’s founder describes the app as a virtual coffee bar where friends and entrepreneurs can catch up, introduce themselves, and find new, interesting startups.
“Our five-year goal is to become the world-leading networking service in the number of active users. I personally have more than 20 years of entrepreneurship experience and more than five years of experience as an angel investor. I have collected a lot of expertise in how communities and social mechanics work. For example, I was the co-founder and CPO of the company Fotostrana where we built a community of people who like to participate in rating photo competitions. When I led it, the company’s monthly revenue was more than $3M and we had more than one million daily average users.” — Igor Monakhov, Founder & CEO at Connect.Club
Igor Monakhov has worked in online advertising since 1999. As a founding member of Embria, he participated in the creation of projects such as PropellerAds (advertising network), DataLead (the use of big data and motivation webmasters in traffic purchase), Fotostrana (social project for communication), PlayKot (social games), and Belka Games (AppLovin’s most recent investment and the creator of Clockmaker — a top-grossing game in U.S. app stores).
Embria Ventures Group Limited’s participants now also include SplitMetrics (testing of mobile landings, АСО optimization, and procurement management of search ads) and Acquired.io (which allows users to manage all channels in one place in an automated, performance-driven way).
