GoKawiilFizz, an anonymous social app that started on college campuses, is going global in more ways than one. Its Global Fizz feed is enabling the app to grow beyond college communities and cater to a broader user base, and the app has made a mark with its first overseas launch in Saudi Arabia.
When Fizz quietly debuted in Saudi Arabia in the middle of March, founder and CEO Teddy Solomon wasn’t expecting the app to catch on like it did. Within 48 hours, the app hit number one overall on the App Store charts; it remains number one in the news category, Solomon told TechCrunch. He added that Fizz users have sent more than one million messages in the past week.
“We’ve always known that our big goal is to be a generational social product, rather than a college social app, and now we’re finally executing on it,” Solomon said.
Fizz has not previously spoken about its international expansion.
Solomon and his co-founder, Ashton Cofer, started Fizz in 2022 while they were students at Stanford, before dropping out. After raising $40 million and launching on 700 campuses, the app is trying to grow the Global Fizz feed, which allows people who are not students to join location-based communities. Users have the option of posting with a handle, but they can choose to remain anonymous if they wish. It’s similar to Reddit’s main feed, but without the ability to create or join topic-specific communities — the equivalent of Reddit’s subreddits.
Solomon said that when he attended a conference in Dubai, he saw the potential for Fizz’s expansion into the Middle East. Soon after, Fizz marketing analyst Michael Fonseca moved to Saudi Arabia to make connections in the area and better understand the culture, which paved the way for Fizz’s international launch.
“Mike was really welcomed with open arms,” Solomon said. “I think [Saudi Arabia] changed quite a bit in recent years.” The country is “jumping right now,” said Solomon. “Business is booming. The social scene and social landscape is booming. Snapchat’s huge there. And social apps are just massive in the region, whether it’s Snap, or WhatsApp, or TikTok — whatever other app it might be.”
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