Ex-Twitch Employees Raise $3.5 Million For Beauty-Focused Streaming Startup ‘Newness’
Newness, a beauty creator-focused streaming startup founded by former
Twitch employees, has closed a $3.5 million seed round.
The round was led by
Sequoia Capital, with participation from
Cowboy Ventures,
Jonathan Shipman and
The one-year-old company was founded by CEO
Jenny Qian, who most recently served as Twitch’s senior director of business strategy, and CTO
Youri Park. It counts 14 employees.
In addition to its beauty focus, Newness wants to foster a positive community, according to
Techcrunch. For instance, both fans and content moderators are rewarded with ‘crystals’ for good behavior, such as engaging in a stream or sending chat messages. Once accrued, crystals can be redeemed for full-sized beauty products, which the company plans to source via brand deals.
Newness raises $3.5 million for its ‘Twitch for beauty streamers’
Newness, a startup co-founded by former Twitch employees, has raised $3.5 million in a Sequoia-led seed round for its live-streaming platform aimed at beauty creators and their fan communities. Though today’s creators are not without options when it comes to livestreaming Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook are all popular choices Newness is focused on building differentiated tools and features that work well for the beauty streamer market in particular. This includes offering options for both public and private streams, engagement mechanisms that reward positive contributions, moderation features and the ability for fans to earn access to free beauty products by community participation.