Topia is a cloud-based communication and @Spatial Media platform that blends encrypted audio/video chat with playful world-building tools. The platform enables anyone to design customizable 2D or 2.5D virtual worlds where spatial video chat mirrors real-life social dynamics, where proximity governs who can see and hear one another. Topia is browser-based, emphasizes ease of use and customization, and is often used to host gatherings that feel more organic than a single “big group” call. Topia is powered by @WebRTC technology with server-assisted real-time spatial streaming and can scale to thousands of concurrent participants. It offers @SDKs/ @Application Programming Interface (API)s for third-party developers and can integrate with external engines, enabling rich, interactive worlds and extensible experiences. Co-founded in May 2020 by @Daniel Liebeskind and @Dylan Jones, it served as one of seven official venues for @Burning Man (2020) and was one of eleven products nominated for @Product Hunt’s 2020 Product of the Year alongside the @Oculus Quest 2 and @Clubhouse. The company raised $5 million in funding, led by @Alexis Ohanian’s @Seven Seven Six. Its markets include education, corporate collaboration and events, and creative communities, with a freemium subscription model. I received a text from Dan on May 8, 2020 about the platform he’d been pouring his heart and soul into, and quickly thereafter we began collaborating. By June, @One Inc Cooperative began stewarding an equity stake; @One Financial provided its @Startup Business Engineering, @John Zdanowski served as @Fractional CFO, @One Studio became the first @Certified Partner (Topia) with our @One Gathering team hosting regular gatherings across 50+ Topia worlds, and @Brian Swichkow served as @Fractional CMO (July 2020 to September 2021).
Media
- Topia Raises $5M: Alexis Ohanian’s Fund Leads Round, gritdaily.com
- Topia Raises $5M to Allow Users to Create Their Own Standalone VR Worlds, dot.la
- New teleconferencing start-up Topia hopes to bring people together [...], ktla.com
- Meet The App Behind Virtual Burning Man: Topia, gritdaily.com
- The App Behind Virtual Burning Man Wants to Host Your Next Office Function, qz.com
- This App Makes Zoom Obsolete - Topia, youtube.com
- Digitizing Burning Man, techcrunch.com
- New Universes Discovered in the Burning Man Multiverse (Build-a-Burn), burningman.org
- I Miss the Hallway Conversations: Topia Community, alicekeeler.com
Reflections
"@Second Life was just one world, this is the multiverse." ~ @John Zdanowski
“For almost every person I show it to, they immediately need to show it to one or 2 of their friends.” - Sean Mahsoul, Polymath Capital
“…it went MUCH better than having everyone on a Zoom. I invited people from a lot of different life spheres - college, childhood, work - and I think it would have been very awkward to have on a big group video chat.” - Marisa
“People were really impressed with how the software worked and thought it was fun to say ‘come meet me by the giant worm.’” - Arjun
“The party was great! I re-created a county park where I usually throw a party at a cabin and it was a great success taking it virtual.” - Sam M.
“I used Topia for my murder mystery a few days ago and it went well! We had a blast!” - Arjun
“We had a fun experience with around 16-20 people. All people where surprised about the possibilities. Easy to use and customize” - Pim
"I feel like I'm creating a meet up thats essentially my sketchbook." ~ @James Cadotte
Contexts
- #topia (this is the @Root Memo)
- #daniel-liebeskind, #dylan-jones, #hayden-wu, are co-creators of Topia
- #spatial-platform (See: @Spatial Platforms)