Yubo, the leading platform for young people to socialise online, today announced it has added 35 additional gender identities and 50 pronouns to its platform. The update strengthens Yubo’s support for its young users and positions the platform as the first to offer pronouns and genders in multiple languages, including 11 others in addition to English.

Yubo is committed to being a platform where Gen Z can express themselves, without fear of judgement, especially for the LGBTQIA+ community, which has always been an active and important user base for the platform. Since April 2020, 2.8 million Yubo users feature the Pride Flag in their bio, with more than 4,000 LGBTQIA+ centric livestreams taking place each day, adding up to an average of 1.45 million livestreams per year internationally, discussing gender identity, sexuality, LGBTQIA+ politics, debates, and more.

LGBTQ+ Life Around The World | Yubo 2021 Pride

In conjunction with LGBTQIA+ focused NGO, Mermaids, who seek to educate and inform wider society on gender identity by helping professionals accommodate and reassure gender-diverse young people, the below genders have been added to the platform, as of today. In alphabetical order:

The below pronouns have been added to the app, so users can add their chosen pronouns to their tag section on their profiles. In alphabetical order:

“Since I joined in 2019, Yubo has had a special place in my life. It's where I can be myself, be true about my interests, and share my hopes and dreams with other people in my community. Through Yubo, I've met new friends from around the world, and connected further with other members of the LGBTQ+ community on the app. Adding more pronouns allows people to be more themselves, and allows them to identify themselves by their desired pronouns. Yubo is consistently building an even more inclusive platform to connect, inspire, and share your life with others, and listens to what their LGBTQ+ users want to see within their app.” – Alex, he, him, his (18)

“Since the onset of Yubo, we’ve believed in being a platform where there is a space for everyone.” said Sacha Lazimi, CEO and Co–Founder of Yubo. “It’s important that younger generations feel seen, accepted, and have methods of expressing themselves, especially in online and digital environments. This is an important step in ensuring that our entire community feel accepted and included when making new friends on the app, providing our LGBTQIA+ users with a variety of genders, so they are able to represent themselves authentically.” 

Matt Moore, Corporate Fundraising Manager at LGBTQIA+ focused NGO, Mermaids, said “It’s extremely important that organisations like Yubo are taking these steps to make their platforms a more inclusive place for gender-diverse young people. We are glad to see that Yubo is constantly working to make the app a  space where Gen Z members of the LGBTQIA+ community can express themselves, without fear of judgement.”

Throughout Pride Month, Yubo will feature several international in-app conversations and panels discussing key issues and topics that are top of mind for LGBTQIA+ youth. Yubo worked together with its users - in the U.S., France, United Kingdom, and Australia - who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community to pick the topics they felt were the most pressing between each other and allies.

Ash, a 18 years old French user explains "It's a great initiative that Yubo has had. These lives allow young people from the LGBTQIA+ community to exchange on many different themes. Adolescence is a time when we are searching for ourselves, and thanks to Yubo and the LGBTQIA+ community present on the app, I was able to put my questions into words. Now I know that I am non-binary and I am looking forward to the gender fluidity live show! ".

Australian Yubo user and LGBTQIA+ community member Asher (she/her), adds, “I’ve made so many amazing friends who also identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community through Yubo. I absolutely love how open and supportive we are towards one another, and I’m very thankful to have genuine friends to bond over our unique experiences with at the touch of an app.”

Looking to discuss gender identity, or just have fun? We have a full program of LGBTQIA+ events featured on Yubo throughout the month of June.

Yubo announced it had added 35 additional gender identities and 50 pronouns to its platform. The update strengthens Yubo’s support for its young users and positions the platform as the first to offer pronouns and genders in multiple languages, including 11 others in addition to English.

Yubo Offers a More Inclusive User Experience

Yubo, the leading platform for young people to socialise online, today kick starts its mission to abolish social media ‘followers’. The brand, which has more than 45M Gen Z users - is urging it’s army of users to drive the message ‘friends, not followers’ and plans to roll out a number of new initiatives across the year to help them do so.

Sacha Lazimi, CEO and founder of Yubo, said, “I read that people with more than 200 followers are more likely to say they felt pressure about the way they look than those with fewer followers. This resonated with me - so unlike other social media apps, Yubo is urging our users to not be a follower and instead socialise online in an authentic way and create genuine online interactions without the pressure of ‘how many followers’ they have. Be a friend, not a follower.”
“We’re not stopping at telling them though - watch this space for more initiatives over the coming months where we'll help users on the mission.”

Unlike other social media apps, Yubo has built a platform without influencers or likes, enabling its Gen Z users to socialise online without the pressure of ‘how many likes’ content gets. The app’s leading livestream technology allows users to jump into real-time livestream chat rooms and authentically socialise with peers in a safe environment.

To date, this unique pressure-free online environment has resonated with Gen Z across the globe. In the first two months of 2021, daily streaming increased by over 8,7%. Its Gen Z audience are also actively engaging in streams with hand raising in lives increasing by a little less than a quarter (24.5%) and live screen sharing up by a fifth (23.7%).

“One of Yubo’s goals is to combat loneliness among teenagers and young adults, by enabling them to meet new people online and make friends,” Sacha continued. “As we seem to be on a steady path out of the pandemic it is an important time for us to be there to support young people through this stage - maybe even facilitate some real-life meetups when possible.”

Yubo is celebrating making friends not followers by showcasing the friendships that have been formed and flourished over Yubo. Its users around the world have shared their experiences, including London-based 20-year-old Angelica (Angel) and 21-year-old Mjay who met in January 2021 during a Yubo livestream discussing, and instantly bonding, over shared political views. Now they count each other as best friends, streaming together every day, despite never having met in person.

Mjay said, “For me, I always felt like there was a stigma attached to meeting people online...I was very wary until I met Angel, but meeting her has opened my eyes to making friendships online, and I felt safe communicating and streaming on Yubo. I never thought I would make a friend during lockdown, but Angel is one of my closest friends, I'm so much more open to making friendships online now I have had such a good experience.”

“It's broken down the stigma for me too, 100%, you can make genuine friendships online. This is probably one of the best friendships I have made for a very, very long time. We have the same interests and just bonded and clicked straight away, it just feels right,” said Angelica.

In Australia, Sarah, a 20-year-old, joined Yubo in July 2020 as she wanted to make more friends and speak to more fellow Aussies during lockdown. During this time, Sarah virtually met her now good friend Paisley, who she hopes to meet face-to-face at the end of this year.

“Living in a regional town in NSW can be isolating, so it has been incredible to find a digital community where everyone can feel connected and form genuine friendships regardless of where they are in the world. I’m hoping to move to Queensland later this year, and Paisley and I are counting down the days until we can finally meet in person.”

And friendships can be international. Federico and Paul-Antoine, from Monaco and France, respectively, are part of a group of friends of about ten people and spend all their evenings together on the app: "We met people on the app who have now become our close friends. We create sincere friendships because we can talk about everything: our days, our classes, our problems... It's the perfect application to create links with people, and to meet incredible people. We talk to each other every day, there is a real bond of trust between us.”

"We also have a lot of fun imagining new game concepts: recently we did a livestream in which we reproduced famous choreographies, with an average of 100 people at each livestream," explains Federico

Yubo kick starts its mission to abolish social media ‘followers’. Yubo is urging it’s army of users to drive the message ‘friends, not followers’ and plans to roll out a number of new initiatives across the year to help them do so.

Yu(bo) got a friend in me

Yu(bo) Got a Friend in Me

Yubo, the leading platform for young people to socialize online, today announced a variety of new platform updates with Snap Inc. and YouTube to create more personalized and enhanced experiences for its users. Through Snap’s Camera Kit tool, Yubo’s 40M+ users worldwide will now be able to access Snapchat Lenses via Yubo to enhance their livestreams.

Camera Kit invites developers to leverage Snap’s nine-year investment in the Snapchat camera, bringing Snapchat’s AR capabilities and Lens carousel to enrich the experiences on their own apps.

There are currently 30 lenses available through the integration with Yubo that have been quickly adopted by Yubo users. Since the launch of this new feature, 15% of video streamed on Yubo has been with a lens and more than 600,000 lenses are used on a daily basis.

The top 10 lenses being used on Yubo are: Big mouth, Clout Goggles, Black and White, Cute Devil, Light, Bubbles, Hellio Head, Sun Ray 02, Dizzy Bird, and Deal with It.

Within its livestreaming function, Yubo has integrated YouTube, enabling users on the livestream to search for videos and watch them together in real-time. By integrating YouTube, Yubo is mirroring how friends hang out offline and watch videos or TV shows together, sharing the experience with new people.

To support its new tailored approach, Yubo is also launching its recommendation engine 'Mood'. Users will now be able to indicate their interests, what they’d like to do or come across on the app and be recommended for an activity or people looking for the same things. As Yubo continues to grow and reach new audiences, this innovation will allow users to seek out meaningful and customized interactions more easily.

“These new functionalities are super exciting to implement on Yubo. A big part of our latest funding round was to level up our product offerings, which we’re doing today by diversifying the ways in which our users can interact within our livestreams”, explains Jeremie Aouate, CPO at Yubo. “Building a strong UI/UX has always been one of our priorities and teaming up with leaders like Snapchat to add key features to our platform is a very impactful way to do so.”

In November, Yubo announced its $47.5M Series C funding round, bringing its total to $60M in less than a year.

Yubo announced a variety of new platform updates with Snap Inc. and YouTube to create more personalized and curated experiences for its users. Through Snap’s Camera Kit tool, Yubo’s 40M+ users worldwide will now be able to access Snapchat Lenses via Yubo to enhance their livestreams.

Snap Inc. Camera Kit and YouTube Integration arrive on Yubo

Snap Inc. Camera Kit and YouTube Integration Arrive on Yubo

Latest funding round follows a year of exponential growth for Yubo with an increase of 400% of time spent in live stream, as Yubo has already attracted over 40 million young people worldwide.

Yubo, the leading platform for young people to socialise online, today announces a $47.5 million Series C round, led by existing investors Idinvest, Iris Capital, Alven and Sweet Capital as well as new investors, including Gaia Capital Partners. As a part of the round, Jerry Murdock, co-founder of Insight Partners (investors in Twitter, Snapchat, TrueCaller…), will also become an independent member of the Yubo board.

In less than a year, Yubo raised over $60m with international investors such as Village Global and the current round investors. The new funding round will be used to support further product development of the platform and strengthen its place as the leading social space for GenZ to socialise online. Yubo is dedicated to creating a safe social space for young people, inspired by the best of offline interactions and powered by online possibilities. Designed to renew the concept of social media being fuelled by likes or followers, Yubo is quickly transforming the way in which Gen Z connects online by giving young users a place where they can just hang out and be themselves without any pressure to perform.

Strong ambitions after a year of exponential growth 

Since its launch in 2015, Yubo has grown significantly in key markets including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and France. In 2020, the time spent in live streams increased by 400%, as 100 000 live streams are launched every day.

The company seeks to increase its international growth even further, with ambitions to expand its community in Southeast Asia, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Yubo also plans to open offices in every key region, in particular strengthening its presence in the US with offices in New York, to further support its largest user base.

Following a successful year in 2019, Yubo is expected to end 2020 with a revenue of $20million, doubling its turnover from 2019. To support and accelerate the development of the platform, Yubo plans to multiply by 10 his workforce, including its safety team all around the world.

“Yubo has an innovative and differing business model among other social media platforms and manages the difficult task of connecting with Gen Z all around the globe. The app has quickly established itself as a leader in the highly competitive US market, as well as in all English-speaking countries. I strongly believe its innovative approach to socializing online will make it the must-have social space of tomorrow.” comments Jerry Murdock.

Product development: an innovative and educational approach to enrich users experience 

The Series C investment will be used to further develop the app’s dedication to livestreaming capabilities, adding new features which will diversify the ways in which Yubo users can interact.

These new capabilities will further enrich the user experience with more content via a YouTube integration, new activities and games. Yubo is also partnering with Snap Inc. to integrate Camera Kit, bringing Snapchat’s camera and AR lenses to the Yubo platform. Finally, Yubo will develop unique recommendation algorithms to personalize its users’ experience based on their interests, social interactions, and activities on the app.

This funding round will also be used to further strengthen the platform’s commitment to developing unrivalled safety measures. Yubo’s dedication to building industry-leading safety features, such as age verification and real-time intervention, will continue growing and raising the bar with the support of this new funding. This latest investment will be used to establish additional, regional helplines across every active country, as well as moderation capacities in more than 36 languages, to enhance the platform’s capabilities in supporting the safety of its users in all regions in which Yubo is active. Also, Yubo will continue increasing its in-app support and prevention capabilities with educational tools and key partnerships with NGOs.

Commenting on the announcement, Sacha Lazimi, CEO and co-founder of Yubo says, “2020 has been a significant year for Yubo, and we are thrilled to be ending the year on such a high. Five years on from the launch of the platform, we are proud to have created a new social space for young people centered around real-time, one-to-few conversations. Yubo is creating a space where they can hang out and find out about the world and themselves.”

“Yubo demonstrated that the Generation Z has adopted the platform for good, and the word is now spreading far beyond its original markets as the start-up just went through its fastest-growing period, offering a most needed safe and international discovery experience to its young users.” adds Gil Doukhan, Principal at Iris Capital. “This new ambitious round will fuel its growth and success across North America, Europe, Asia and South America and ensure its world-class safety measures remain industry leaders by far.”

“We are thrilled to back this unique journey since 2016 and see it become the major independent European consumer social platform” says François Meteyer, Partner at Alven. “Socializing has always been a major human need. Compared to previous generations’ closed social circles, Yubo breaks physical barriers and opens to its millions of daily active GenZ users a digital exploratory window on the world and themselves – all the more relevant in current time when life from home is paroxysmal.”

Alice Albizzati, co-founder of Gaia Capital Partners, says: “Yubo has demonstrated unparalleled growth and execution since its inception, having proven its ability to monetize users early on while investing in their safety. We have been impressed not only by its strong capital efficiency and significant activity in the US, but also by how the company paves the way in terms of user safety and empowerment in the consumer social media space. As responsible growth investors, we are thrilled to support this outstanding team in their growth trajectory to achieve global leadership in the coming years.”

Yubo, the leading platform for young people to socialise online, announces a $47.5 million Series C round, led by existing investors Idinvest, Iris Capital, Alven and Sweet Capital as well as new investors, including Gaia Capital Partners.

Yubo completes Series C funding round of $47.5 million

Yubo Completes Series C funding Round of $47.5 Million

Yubo, the top platform for young people to socialize online, announced today the opening of an American headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida that will drive its international expansion to the US and Latin American markets. Operation Heads Alexander Boyd and Katie Boyd will oversee Yubo’s global safety and support team, which spans 24 countries and 5 continents, and the new Jacksonville office.

Throughout 2020, Yubo has surged in popularity among US and Latin American users. US users in live streams on Yubo have increased 350% since March 2020, while Latin American users in livestreams have grown 1200% since June 2020. Approximately one in ten Gen Z Americans has used Yubo.

Yubo’s newly expanded presence in the US will enable it to better serve users in the region. Yubo plans to grow its US team to 10 people in the coming months across all supporting functions, including safety, marketing, and communications.

“Millions of young people in the US and Latin America socialize together on Yubo every month, so we are thrilled to open an office and team in Jacksonville,” said Yubo CEO and co-founder Sacha Lazimi. “During these socially distanced times, online social spaces are more important than ever. We’re committed to supporting our online community across the Americas and our local community here in Jacksonville.”

Yubo has drawn together a global community of 40 million young people who socialize through livestreams, chatting, and group games. With industry-leading safety features, including age verification and real-time intervention, Yubo is focused on creating a safe social space for Gen Z to hang out together online.

Earlier this year, Yubo announced a strategic partnership with The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the leading non-profit organization to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization, introducing a one-click reporting system for suspicious profiles and behavior. Yubo is also a founding member of the Technology Coalition’s Project Protect, an initiative to prevent and eradicate Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) from the internet.

Paris-based Yubo has raised over $12 million from investors, including Iris Capital, Idinvest Partners, Alven, Sweet Capital, and Village Global, to create a safe social space for young people that’s inspired by the best of offline interactions and powered by online possibilities.

Yubo announced the opening of an American headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida that will drive its international expansion to the U.S. and Latin American markets. Operation Heads Alexander Boyd and Katie Boyd will oversee Yubo’s global safety and support team, which spans 24 countries and 5 continents, and the new Jacksonville office.

Yubo Opens New Americas Headquarters

Yubo Opens New Americas Headquarter

Introducing Yubo Games

Yubo launches a gaming feature in a bid to bring new levels of interactivity to its users, as social distancing measures remain in place worldwide. To Be Honest, Would You Rather, Draw Quiz and Let Them Guess, are among the first in a series of free games to be launched as part of the new package, and were created in collaboration with Yubo’s global community of Gen Z users.

In recent months, Yubo has experienced a significant rise in user conversations, with a 300% increase in the number of people taking part in live streams and a 310% increase in the length of live streams.  The Yubo team has been working tirelessly in response to this surge in activity, in order to bring exciting new features to new and existing users so that they are able to socialise in a variety of ways during the ongoing pandemic.

To Be Honest: To Be Honest is the ultimate game of truth that can be played amongst new and old friends through live-streams! A streamer is selected at random and has 30 seconds to answer the question about themselves that appears on-screen, for example, ‘Who would you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island?’ Fellow gamers can vote for their favourite answers, to reveal whose inner-truths are most popular.

Would You Rather: Would You Rather enables Yubo users to discover new friends with similar interests. Gamers answer 20 questions, where they must choose their preferred option from two possible responses. At the end of the game, players are able to view which users had the most answers in common with them!

Draw Quiz: A twist on the much-loved classic, Pictionary. Users must attempt to identify words based on pictures drawn by other players. The user who has successfully drawn the most words at the end of the game wins.

Let Them Guess: A new take on the popular US game, Heads Up!, where users have 1 minute each to get creative in describing the words that appear on their screens, without mentioning the word itself.

Yubo collaborated with its community of 30 million global users in the development of the gaming feature. Just last month, we released a poll on the platform, asking users which games they’d most like to play on the app. Yubo has also implemented tools within the app to allow users to suggest content, such as questions or words, that they’d like incorporated across all 4 games in order to keep content fresh and relevant for their users.

Yubo Co-Founder and CEO, Sacha Lazimi, says: “This has been a community-based process from start to finish, as we always ensure that our users have their say. The main aim of this latest launch is to bring fun and positivity to our teenage community, helping them to stay connected with one another during this heightened period of online activity, when unfortunately, it’s not possible for them to connect in person.”

Yubo Launches new gaming feature

Yubo Launches New Gaming Feature

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the leading non-profit organization to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization, is partnering with Yubo, the world’s largest social discovery platform, to ensure the safety of young people in the digital age. Yubo joins the ranks of some of the world’s most prominent tech giants, as part of its work in introducing unparalleled safety features to the platform which caters solely to a younger generation.

Starting today, the Yubo moderation team, a team solely dedicated to preventing unsafe user behavior on the platform, will be able to report suspected online child exploitation to NCMEC’s CyberTipline in real-time, at just the click of a button. When NCMEC receives a report, that information is made available to law enforcement around the world for them to review and investigate. Yubo will identify suspicious profiles by hash value matching with NCMEC’s hash sharing database, which tracks the ‘digital fingerprint’ of known images and files that contain child sexual abuse content.

NCMEC will also take on an advisory position for Yubo, counselling on the development of moderation and safety tools. John Shehan, VP of NCMEC’s Exploited Children Division, joins the Safety Board of Yubo, whose existing members include leaders from other key public and non-profit organizations like Thorn, Diana Award, ex-Interpol, the London’s mental health service Good Thinking,  and the founder of NetFamilyNews.org. John’s role with the platform emphasizes Yubo’s dedication to working transparently and positively with the most influential safety organizations across the globe, dedicated to the protection of young internet users.

John Shehan says, “We are impressed with Yubo’s commitment to the safety of their users and their innovative solutions to making a safer environment online. We’re proud to work with them to continue to develop tools that will protect young people from exploitation.”

Marc-Antoine Durand, Chief Operating Officer of Yubo adds, “User safety is the top priority for Yubo. We are one of the only social platforms that invests this heavily in human, technical and financial resources to continuously ensure that Yubo is the most secure platform for Gen Z.”

“Our partnership with NCMEC ensures that cases of exploitation are flagged instantly, allowing local authorities to have complete access to information in order to apprehend digital perpetrators in a faster and smarter way than ever before.”

The announcement of the partnership is further supported by the launch of two new safety features on the platform. The first will prevent profiles that do not feature a profile picture; a new tool requires users to upload a photo of themselves in order to access and use the app. Furthermore, a second tool created by Yubo will detect and alert the user - in real-time - when they are about to share personal information such as their location, email address or phone number, allowing them to rethink sending a message.

Introducing: True identity popups

These new features add to Yubo’s existing safety credentials, including age estimation in partnership with Yoti Age Scan, real-time moderation intervention on social videos as well as its continuous collaboration with police forces worldwide, securing the platform as the world’s leading social media destination which promotes safety as its highest priority.

Annie Mullins, co-founder of The Trust and Safety Group and an independent safety advisor says,

“It takes an army to fight against exploitation of young people. We need tech companies to work with local non-profit organizations and law enforcement to ensure that offenders face the full force of the law.”

“From educating and empowering users through built-in-app safety tools, to partnerships with important and relevant organizations like NCMEC, Yubo’s commitment to safety is commendable, and should serve as an example to other social platforms.”

With a global community of over 28 million young people on the platform, and with tens of thousands of new members joining the community each day, Yubo is committed to ensuring the safety of every person on the platform.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the leading non-profit organization to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization, is partnering with Yubo, the social discovery platform, to ensure the safety of young people in the digital age. Yubo joins the ranks of some of the world’s most prominent tech giants as part of its work in introducing unparalleled safety features to the platform which caters solely to a younger generation.

NCMEC partners with Yubo, to tackle online exploitation

NCMEC Partners With Yubo, to Tackle Online Exploitation

As a platform that’s all about helping young people make meaningful connections, we focus on the safety of our community every day. So, we’re always proud to support #SaferInternetDay, the annual global online safety event, which takes place today (9 February).

Over the last few years, we’ve introduced a number of industry-leading safety measures to help protect, support and educate young users on Yubo. This includes real-time intervention where we use a combination of AI algorithms and human moderators to monitor activity and take action when our Community Guidelines are broken. We don’t allow nudity on Yubo, for example – if someone breaks this rule, we send a message asking them to change their behaviour or we’ll close the livestream and/or suspend their account.

We also encourage our young users to think twice before sharing personal details in private chat. If someone types a phrase such as ‘I live in…’ or ‘My phone number is…’, this triggers a pop-up alert giving them the opportunity to delete the message or send it anyway. Today, we’re introducing a new safety feature – if any of our users attempt to make inappropriate requests in private chat, we’ll caution them by sending a pop-up alert and we’ll block that content from being shared.  

Why is it so important that we pre-empt possible risks on Yubo? During adolescence, there’s a lot of potential for young people to learn new things but the part of the brain that helps them to make decisions and consider the consequences of those decisions is not yet fully developed. At the same time, they might come under pressure from their peers to behave in a certain way and take risks.

To help combat this, we educate our young users and give them the opportunity to think carefully about sharing content or personal information and change their mind if they do have second thoughts. We support their freedom of expression but it’s also important to help keep them safer.

As our safety advisor Annie Mullins OBE says, “Young people make mistakes  – that’s part of growing up  –  but it’s important that social media providers offer safety nets for them and nudge them in the right direction when their behaviour could put them at risk. The focus should be on promoting digital resilience and wellbeing.”

If we look at the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), we see that young people have the right to privacy and the right to express their views. But they also have the right to protection from discrimination, violence, sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation. These rights apply online as well as offline, of course. In a recent blog, Professor Sonia Livingstone of the LSE described the adoption of a General Comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child as a “game changer”.

Striking the balance between privacy and safety is certainly one of the main challenges for tech companies and regulators. The need for privacy must be weighed up against the risk of digital crimes against young people, such as identity theft, hate speech and child sexual abuse. Here at Yubo, we ask all new users to read and accept our Community Guidelines, and we’re as transparent as possible about how we monitor and moderate content on our platform (without undermining the safeguards we have in place).

In 2020, we were part of industry efforts to introduce a harmonised regulatory approach to e-privacy in the EU (where Yubo is based). We believe that putting all the focus on user privacy might have unintended consequences and could put children at greater risk from sexual exploitation. Together with Google, Linkedin, Microsoft and Roblox, we announced that Yubo would remain “steadfast in honouring our safety commitments that European – and, indeed, users around the world – expect and rely upon.”

Our position was welcomed by many, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).

NCMEC President and CEO John Clark said, “We commend Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Roblox, and Yubo which have publicly committed to continuing their proactive efforts to detect child sexual exploitation even while the EU deliberates next steps.”

“We wholeheartedly applaud the stance taken by these companies who are really going the extra mile to protect children,” commented Susie Hargreaves OBE, Chief Executive of the IWF. “Keeping children safe on, and offline, has to be everyone’s priority, and we must never lose sight of this.”

Today’s Safer Internet Day theme of ‘Together for a better internet’ reminds us of the vital role Yubo plays in the digital safety ecosystem. Working closely with other stakeholders – as a member of the Technology Coalition and supporter of Project Protect, for example – is a key part of this.

With more than 45 million users and our livestream usage increasing by 550% globally in 2020, we have a responsibility to continue educating young people about responsible and safe online behaviour. It’s a role we take very seriously, especially as digital spaces have become even more of a lifeline while they have been at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

As our COO Marc-Antoine Durand says, “Now more than ever, this generation needs a space to safely connect with like-minded people and experience social interaction online, when they are unable to do so in real life… it is our responsibility as a business to ensure that they are protected and educated on how to behave responsibly online, not just on Yubo, but on any social media or online forum.”

Visit the #SaferInternetDay website to find out how you can get involved.

Yubo is celebrating Safer Internet Day 2021 with a number of industry-leading safety measures to help protect, support and educate young users. As a platform that’s all about helping young people make meaningful connections, Yubo focus on the safety of its community every day. So, Yubo is really proud to support #SaferInternetDay, the annual global online safety event.

Safer Internet Day: Useful Links

Yubo, the social platform where Generation Z creates communities of friends around the world, announced a $12.3 million fundraising round led by Iris Capital and Idinvest Partners, alongside historical investors Alven, Sweet Capital, and Village Global.

With an already predominantly English-speaking user base (mainly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia), this new round of funding will support Yubo's international expansion into new regions and accelerate the further technological development of the social platform.

Built by Sacha Lazimi, Jérémie Aouate, and Arthur Patora, Yubo currently has over 25 million users, with tens of thousands of new members joining the community every day. Since its launch in 2015, Yubo’s users have formed more than 2 billion friendships on the platform, sent over 10 billion written messages, and launched over 30 million live video streams.

This growth is coupled with outstanding business success for a startup, with gross revenue reaching approximately $10 million as of the end of 2019. Since late 2018, users have had the opportunity to upgrade to a premium account and discover exclusive features.

Designed for young people between 13 and 25, Yubo lets users create live video discussion spaces where both streamers and viewers interact through a live chat. Relying on cutting-edge technology and tools specifically designed to protect the app users, Yubo provides a secure discussion platform built to widen their circle of friends. The social network favors sociability, sharing, and authenticity rather than the approval mechanisms and influencers systems of traditional social networks.

“Yubo is a response to a fundamental need of Generation Z: socializing and creating friendships in the digital world in the exact same way as in real life. This funding round will let us reach new technological milestones and further our international footprint. We are especially proud that such recognized funds have granted us their confidence and backing to support our ambitions: becoming the world-leading social platform, born in France and based on European standards” commented Sacha Lazimi, Yubo CEO & Co-Founder.

“We’re excited about Yubo’s potential to become the leading platform for teens and young adults to express themselves, socialize and learn from their peers. We believe mobile will play an increasingly important role in the lives of this segment and Yubo’s model, including safety features, makes it one the most exciting mobile companies at the moment.”, Christian Dorffer, Co-Founder & General Partner at Sweet Capital.

“Yubo is revolutionizing traditional social networks for Generation Z. Immediacy, live videos, group discussions, conviviality, sharing, and safety: all the ingredients are coming together so that young people can form new friendships in the digital world as they would in real life. Yubo's meteoric success is a testament to its relevance and potential." Ben Casnocha - Co-founder and Partner at Village Global.

“Attracting, connecting, and uniting Generation Z through an application or a website is a challenge for any digital ecosystem, and Yubo’s global success instantly convinced us of their team and product’s potential.  As Yubo is becoming a daily essential for the youth across the world, this fundraising will support this growth and strengthen their cutting-edge technology”, declared Gil Doukhan, Principal at Iris Capital.

“Yubo offers a space combining freedom of expression and security for its users. Our participation in this new round of funding illustrates our confidence in the growth of this French success story”, said Nicolas Debock, Managing Director at Idinvest Partners.

Strong ambitions supported by renowned investors

Already widely adopted in the USA and Canada, the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, Australia and France, Yubo aims to conquer new territories, notably Japan and Brazil. Yubo will also consolidate its presence in English-speaking countries, which already account for 80% of its users. To support its growth, Yubo will hire 35 new staff members in the next 6 months, growing its total headcount to 50 people.

Yubo will also reinforce its infrastructure to ensure the social network remains a secure space of expression for every user. Yubo is already using artificial intelligence tools for age verification through its partner application Yoti and aims to stay ahead of technological progress in the field of online safety. New customization tools will be available to all users, allowing them to select keywords they no longer wish to see during their interactions with their community.

As the first social platform with real-time moderation on live videos, Yubo will also increase by 5 the size of its moderation teams across the world. Its developers are thus constantly improving their algorithms to detect inappropriate content as well as their reporting tools, in collaboration with its user community.

Along with the platform’s technological developments, the startup is supported by its Safety Board composed of renowned international experts: Alex Holmes, Deputy CEO of Diana Award – one of the most influential associations fighting bullying; Annie Mullins, Advisor, specialized in the online protection of teens; Travis Bright, Director of Product at Thorn, one of the most influential child protection associations in the United States; Mick Moran, former Interpol Deputy Director; Dr Richard Graham, Psychiatrist specialized in social networks; and Anne Collier, from Net Family News, and Member of the monitoring boards at Snap.Inc (Snapchat) and Facebook.

Yubo announced a $12.3 million fundraising round led by Iris Capital and Idinvest Partners, alongside historical investor Alven, Sweet Capital, and Village Global to support its global expansion.

Yubo Raises $12.3M to Support International Growth

Today, we are happy to announce an innovative partnership with digital identity company Yoti that will see Yoti’s age estimation technology YAS  (Yoti Age Scan) help protect Yubo’s community of users.

Yoti will verify the age of individuals and flag accounts where the person appears to have misstated their age; an important step in safeguarding young people on social networks. Owners of flagged accounts will be given the option to then use the free Yoti app to verify their date of birth.

Using a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) called neural network learning, YAS is a secure, anonymous age-checking service that accurately estimates a person’s age by comparing an individual’s face to many thousands of other age-verified faces. After the age is estimated,  the image is deleted.

It can be used when providing age-restricted goods and services, both online and in person. Yubo is the first social media site to use YAS to help ensure individuals can only access age-appropriate content on  Yubo. Since adopting the technology in December 2018, Yubo has conducted over 22 million age checks using YAS that would have been prohibitively expensive to do manually each day.

Marc-Antoine Durand, COO at Yubo, commented, “We’ve selected Yoti’s age estimation technology, YAS, to give us a simple,  private and secure way to make the app safe for our users; a vital step to help safeguard young people online. We are excited to develop a  partnership with Yoti and use their identity verification technology to  further enhance the safety of our platform for our users.”

Robin Tombs, CEO and Co-Founder of Yoti explained, “Our facial recognition applications are designed to make life simpler and safer for everyone. As a parent with young children, I’m delighted that  Yubo has chosen to use YAS to help with this vital step to protect young people online. YAS can estimate someone’s age with a high degree of accuracy, and Yoti gives people the chance to verify their age in a  private and secure way. Our work with Yubo shows how Yoti’s technology  can help make the internet a safer place for young people.”

Annie Mullins OBE, Safety Expert and Yubo advisor, said,  “This is an exciting and innovative step for safeguarding young people  online, which sets an example to other platforms and highlights Yubo’s commitment and leadership to proactive safety measures and protecting  young users.”

John Carr, Online Child Safety Consultant, commented,  “Regulators should take note of this new approach. Yubo is now showing how AI can be used to review if a person is in the right age band. For game sites and social media companies, there is now a new way to safeguard minors. This is a brilliant example of technology being used  to help improve online safety, one that is on a fast track towards the  mainstream.”

YAS has been designed with data privacy and security as primary considerations. YAS is a private and anonymous solution. There is no need for individuals to register in advance or provide any documents as evidence of their identity. YAS simply estimates their age. The image is instantly destroyed as soon as the age has been estimated.

As part of their ongoing safety strategy, Yubo plan to use the Yoti app to let flagged users share their verified date of birth. Individuals will also be able to verify their name so that Yubo can highlight verified users to others.

For more information about Yoti go to www.yoti.com or read the YAS white paper.

Yubo announced an innovative partnership with  digital identity company Yoti that will see Yoti’s age estimation  technology YAS  (Yoti Age Scan) help protect Yubo’s community of users.

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