Company: Uplike
Headquarters: Paris, France
Founding team: CEO, Emmanuel Francoise
Why we like it: Because life is full of tedious spaces that need distraction. Before hand, distraction amounted to reading, and other activities that required effort. Now, thanks to Uplike and platforms like it, there are lots of mind-numbing games we can use instead.
The internet is teeming with entertainment sites, social networks and sharing platforms where people can make music discoveries, find friends, watch videos, learn new skills – whatever you’re looking for, you’ll be able to find it one way or another.
The only thing is, all these different virtual worlds can be a bit overwhelming and even excluding at times.
Free social networking app Uplike decided to create a whole social entertainment ecosystem that includes everyone and everything you could imagine. The idea is that people can share whatever they want, from music and games to selfies and videos to beauty tutorials and fitness workouts.
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Founded in 2012 by French serial entrepreneur Emmanuel Françoise, the app is available for iOS and Android, comes in 7 languages and aims to connect people from around the world who share similar interests and tastes.
It’s all about the likes. Users can scroll through millions of videos and photos posted in the Uplike community and discover new inspirations based on what others have “upliked” Beauty tutorials, nail art, hairstyles, fitness videos, fashion, cooking, sports, tattoos, cute pets, cars… the list of quirky trends and obsessions goes on.
As well as nosing around to see what everybody else is up to, users can create their own short 30 second videos, choose from millions of tracks to accompany it and share it with the rest of the community. You can also send private messages and multimedia links with Uplike Messenger and chat with up to 10 people at the same time.
Uplike also hosts and creates a selection of games including “Fruity Blast”, “Rainy Cat”, “Tattoo Girl” and “Caveman” for those days when you’ve really hit rock bottom and you’re boredom gets the best of you.
The app has proved to be a big hit, named the fastest-growing tech startup in France at the Tech5 final in 2015 and was named the European Startup of the year by ICT Spring Awards.
It’s not going to win awards for originality, but the app is bringing all things fun and entertaining together for users to connect, explore and indulge themselves to their fullest potential. Everyone likes to be a little self-indulgent sometimes, don’t they.
