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The French Yubo is the most fashionable social network of Gen Z (13-22 year olds), who had raised 40 million euros end of 2020. At the time, the founder of Yubo, Sasha Lazimi, announced the upcoming opening of an office in New York. It’s now done: the French Geraldine Cohen has been appointed Global Head of Brand Marketing. She has just opened an office on Lexington and 41st Street and is actively recruiting a team in the Big Apple.
This Franco-American was born in the United States but studied in France, until a master’s degree in entrepreneurship at HEC during which she founded an e-commerce marketplace and a community of influencers in the world of beauty. . ” We worked a lot with digital brands, I moved to New York and sold my box to Feelunique in 2017, which itself has just been acquired by Sephora. », Says Geraldine Cohen.
The United States, Yubo’s number one market
The Frenchwoman works at Bash, which she supports in its digital transformation, then becomes global digital director of the Fresh brand within LVMH before entrepreneurship recalls her. ” I wanted to come back to the world of startups and innovation, assures the young woman. And above all I was looking to develop a platform rather than a product. »
After her meeting with the creators of Yubo, she is enthusiastic about this social network which has become the world reference for teens and young adults, and aspires to replace Snapchat, Instagram and other Facebook. ” Yubo is a space for pure online socialization because social networks no longer meet this need. They are showcases for exposing your life in a certain way and getting likes. We do not publish performance on our content ».
Yubo, which consists of live chat rooms – a kind of Clubhouse with light and fun chats for teens – has been very successful in the United States, its first market which represents more than 20 million users, that is to say 40% of its global community.
$ 30 million in revenue forecast in 2021
To continue this impressive momentum across the Atlantic, Géraldine Cohen is recruiting four marketing profiles who have experience of the American market. The team should grow quickly. ” We should be ten people by the end of the year in New York », Specifies Geraldine Cohen. The manager will support the community management team and that of human moderators who monitor the content of discussions, growing teams.
Yubo has big ambitions: after doubling its turnover to $ 20 million, the social network plans to reach $ 30 million in revenue in 2021 and intends to push the fires on this side of the Atlantic . Unlike its big American competitors, the social network is not remunerated by advertising but by the purchase of premium features. A business model that could work in its favor: On October 21, Snapchat published disappointing quarterly results and blamed them on changes in advertising metrics in Apple’s iOS system.
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