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HOLLA Group

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

HOLLA Group is a tech startup best-known for developing the social app HOLLA and for acquiring the video chat app Monkey.[1]

Beginnings[edit]

HOLLA Group was co-founded in 2016 by Eric Tao, Allen Loh, and Ryan Peng in Beijing, China.[2] The company released the social app HOLLA the same year. The company later opened offices in Los Angeles, California.[1]

In 2018, HOLLA Group acquired the video chat app Monkey from Ben Pasternak and Isaiah Turner.[1][3] While Pasternak and Turner sold the app's assets to HOLLA Group, the two did not join the company. Terms of the sale were kept confidential.[1]

Company vision[edit]

The vision of HOLLA and Monkey is to utilize video chat as a way of communication to connect users with face-to-face conversations like in real life, and in turn deliver a higher level of trust and engagement for its users.[1] HOLLA Group has come to highly value AI technology and its use in helping to improve algorithms and community safety for both of its apps.[1]

HOLLA App[edit]

HOLLA is a social app launched by HOLLA Group in 2016. The app can connect users from across the world via their mobile phones through video chat.[4] The app employs an algorithm to recommend users based on similar interests and demographics.[4] HOLLA is geared specifically toward helping users find new friends or a date.[1]

HOLLA uses smile detection software to determine when users are enjoying themselves.[1] HOLLA features in-app purchases known as "gems". According to co-founder Allen Loh, purchases of the gems has helped make the app profitable.[1]

Monkey App[edit]

Monkey is a live video chat app marketed to the Gen Z demographic that was originally founded in 2016 by Ben Pasternak and Isaiah Turner.[4][3] Research has found that the average Monkey user is 17.[5]

The app works in conjunction with Snapchat to let users chat with each other for 15 seconds before either ending the chat or adding extra time.[4][3] Pasternak has said that the app was designed to help teens find more "internet friends"[5] and to "fill the loneliness void in teenagers."[6] The app works via discovery features that filter users based on age, gender, location, and hashtag interests[5] known as "trees".[3] The brevity of the chats are designed to prevent bullying and threatening interactions.[4]

Pasternak and Turner had raised more than $2 million USD in venture capital before selling the app to HOLLA Group. They have said that their decision to sell was intended to open up more time for other interests, and that they believed HOLLA Group to be the best home for the app.[3]

HOLLA Group has said that they are focused on keeping Monkey completely free. They have since incorporated AI for visual recognition to detect nudity, violence, or weapons on their apps.[1] HOLLA Group has a strict policy of banning users in real-time who violate community standards by making sexual remarks, sharing pornography, or exhibiting threatening behavior.[7]

Growth and success[edit]

The two apps have been made available on both Apple and Android platforms.[5][8] Monkey ranked near the top of App Store's Social Networking apps category in 2017.[1] It has also consistently ranked in Top 30 in the same category since its launch.[1]

Like Monkey, HOLLA app consistently ranked in the top 30 of the iOS and Android app stores. As of January 2018, Monkey has amassed over 3 million downloads and logged over 1 billion calls.[3] Monkey and HOLLA have been downloaded over 20 million times combined.[1]

References[edit]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Johnson, Khari."Holla acquires Monkey to expand video chat for dating and friend discovery". Venture Beat, 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  2. Chiriatti, Bianca."Ben Pasternak il più giovane innovatore che potrà cambiare il mondo. Perché?". Cosmopolitan, 2018-05-30. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Grubb, Ben. "Aussie whiz-kid Ben Pasternak eyes next project after selling video chat app Monkey to rival". The Sydney Morning Herald, 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Noel, Marcus. "Hey Facebook, Gen Z Is Finding New Ways To Connect Socially". Forbes, 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Bogle, Ariel."Forget Facebook, forget Snapchat: Teens are doing it themselves". Mashable, 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  6. Bethea, Charles. "Meet Monkey’s Teen-Age Founders". The New Yorker, 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  7. "Adults sharing sexual content on teen app". BBC.com, 2017-06-22. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  8. Castillo, Michelle."This popular teen app is quickly turning into Chatroulette 2.0, complete with all its issues". CNBC, 2017-08-3. Retrieved 2018-07-16.


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