Bulletins

Discord acquires AR and video chat startup Ubiquity6

Stylized screenshot of video chat app Backyard

Ubiquity6's video chat app, Backyard, was supposed to launch this spring. Instead, the team behind it is now joining Discord.

Image: Ubiquity6

Ubiquity6 CEO Anjney Midha announced the acquisition in a Medium post Monday morning, saying that his team will help Discord unlock "shared experiences for 150M+ people." The two companies didn't share any financial details about the deal.

Ubiquity6 started out as an AR startup, developing a kind of Instagram for photogrammetry called Displayland. More recently, Ubiquity6 pivoted from AR to shared online experiences with a new app called Backyard that can best be described as a more playful take on video chat, complete with integrated mini games.

Backyard had been in beta for a few months, with plans to launch it publicly this spring. Last week, the startup quietly pulled the plug on the project, updating it with information on the acquisition Monday. "Our platform, games and activities have found a new home there, and we're excited to share more in the coming months about bringing the best of Backyard to Discord," the Backyard website now reads.

 Janko Roettgers

Janko Roettgers (Twitter, Mastodon) used to be a senior reporter at Protocol, reporting on the shifting power dynamics between tech, media, and entertainment, including the impact of new technologies. Previously, Janko was Variety's first-ever technology writer in San Francisco, where he covered big tech and emerging technologies. He has reported for Gigaom, Frankfurter Rundschau, Berliner Zeitung, and ORF, among others. He has written three books on consumer cord-cutting and online music and co-edited an anthology on internet subcultures. He lives with his family in Oakland.
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