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The metaverse is on the horizon, but the Multiverse has arrived.

Not the Marvel one with a crocodile Loki. This one looks a bit like Silicon Valley’s RussFest.

Multiverse, a collection of immersive environments, was introduced a year ago to host a virtual Burning Man 2020. Co-founder Brittany Brousseau said in today’s Product Hunt launch that the makers had been working on it for years but Covid propelled the project forward.

The Multiverse is cross-platform, enabling participants to enter on any mobile device or VR headset. Once in, your 3D avatar can roam freely and interact with live voice.

Last year’s virtual environment covered seven square miles. According to Brousseau, tens of thousands joined globally (the platform can handle 1 million concurrent users), 650 DJs participated, 300+ art installations were created, and 139 live broadcasts streamed simultaneously. For this year's Burning Man city, the makers have added social and communication layers among other features.

Multiverse looks as vibrant as the IRL event. It strikes a different cord from Horizon Workrooms, Facebook’s virtual office unveiled earlier this month, but both give us a broader picture of life in the metaverse.

In Horizon Workrooms, colleagues can sit at the same virtual table via their avatars, whiteboard and type with their virtual hands, and gesture back and forth to each other. Spatial audio contributes to a more personable experience than tech that’s audio-only. You'll need a Quest 2 is for the full experience, but anyone can join a workroom with a smartphone or computer.

Workrooms is in open beta. Zuckerberg and team have been quick to admit that, at this stage, there are many gaps and to-dos. Beyond the tech, one big question remains: will Facebook open up Horizons for cross-platform connection to enable a real metaverse with interconnected worlds?

TBD, but with Product Hunt's remote team that includes VR enthusiasts and Burners, you can expect to see us at both the virtual table and the flaming art cars.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes starts her trial for defrauding patients and investors about the company’s breakthrough, automated blood testing that never panned out.

If Theranos technology had delivered on its promises, it likely would have remained a leader in a space that’s booming. Crunchbase reports that 43 of 158 US-based at-home testing companies received funding in 2020.

Critics are concerned that when demand for Covid testing fades, broader market interest won’t hold up. Investors and makers remain bullish.

“We strongly believe diagnostics will shift to an instant, at-home, high-frequency model. We’re enabling the tracking of biomarkers through phones instead of going to a lab,” Pratik lodha, co-founder of Neodocs said in the startup’s Product Hunt launch on Friday.

Neodocs Wellness Card lets you order instant lab tests from your smartphone. Users can take a urine sample, dip their wellness card in, and after two minutes, they can scan the card with the app to reveal information about their health.

At-home testing startups do face another hurdle besides Covid (particularly female-founded ones) — they get compared regularly to Theranos.

Lola Priego is the founder of Base which offers at-home blood and saliva testing to reveal info about your sleep, stress, and diet. It launched on Product Hunt less than a year ago. She told the New York Times that she gets a Theranos comparison at least once a week. It has caused the founder some setbacks, but fortunately, concerns are usually put to rest when Priego explains that Base works with Quest Diagnostics, a multinational company, for analysis of its tests. Another startup, DotLab, battles the comparisons by explaining that it publishes its results in peer-reviewed journals, something Theranos was criticized for not doing.

Neodocs, for its part, says its Wellness Card test pads are CE and FDA-certified, and it's collaborating with IIT Bombay to perform continuous testing and validate the accuracy of the results.

“Product Hunt is where we first launched just 1.5 years ago,” wrote Eric Glyman, Co-Founder and CEO of Ramp, in yesterday’s launch of Ramp 2.0. The company also announced it raised $300M at a $3.9B valuation.

In its original launch, Ramp’s product was its free corporate card. Its north star has been to help businesses spend less through unlimited cards, 1.5% cash-back on everything, and insights to reduce wasteful spending. New features like merchant blocking have been added at the request of users.

The response has been good. Ramp reported a 5x increase in cardholders since the beginning of 2021 and a 1,000% increase year over year in transactions.

With Ramp 2.0, its hero product still stands, but it wants you to know: It’s not just a corporate card. It’s a finance automation platform.

"[W]ith Ramp, you’ll get corporate cards and payments with built-in expense and accounting automation software, all in one well designed, easy-to-use, and free solution,” Glyman explained. As the launch meme puts it, finance teams can make siloed finance tools disappear with a Thanos finger snap.

Ramp 2.0 adds negotiation-as-a-service for software procurement into its platform, too. That was part 3 of its announcement yesterday tied to its positioning — the company acquired Buyer, a startup we watched launch on Product Hunt just one year ago.

In most articles about Ramp, you’ll find a reference to its competitor Brex. As both grow, the differences between the company’s strategies diverge. Brex announced a $475M raise at a $7.4B valuation in April, as well as its first paid tier. It made its first acquisition too — a startup called Weav with a universal API for commerce platforms. Signs point to Ramp serving larger companies, and Brex focusing on small businesses.

Fin-techies are wondering if Ramp will continue to ride its free model to exit, or introduce paid features into its growing software functions to morph into a freemium model.

You can click through to check it out now, while we know it’s still free.

The National Restaurant Association reported that 50% of full-service restaurants in the US are now using QR code menus.

Just five years ago, QR codes were more decoration than utility in consumer tech. Although plenty of QR code scanners exist, convincing users to download and keep a rarely used, single-function app proved difficult.

Then in 2017 Apple set the stage for greater adoption when it enabled the iPhone camera to read QR codes. Android did the same the following year. Suddenly QR codes fit right into apps and marketing materials as a reasonable means for accessing information quickly. Asia in particular has excelled at finding innovative use cases.

Now, QR codes have finally made it to the restaurant industry and started a revolution. Many restaurant owners are convinced QR code menus and ordering are here to stay since adopting them for social distancing. They've enabled owners to put their menus online, keep menus updated in real-time, manage orders quickly, and prevent the spread of germs and viruses.

Menu Cards and Orderli both launched today with app-free solutions for restauranteurs. App features for new QR code products make the transition from paper menus to QR codes an even bigger technological leap for the industry. Many, like Menu Cards support a quick and easy-to-launch experience. Orderli is a full service solution with its own tablet for keeping track of orders and POS integration.

We’ve also seen a free QR code menu creator, an open-source QR platform, and a product that lets you use one QR code to serve users content in their preferred language.

There are startups that got an early lead in this space with a product in place prior to the pandemic. Sales are up 544% for Singapore-based Waitrr. OneDine expects to double its customer base in the US and UK over just four months.

As long as demand skyrockets (Bit.ly reported a 750% increase in QR downloads over the last 18 months), there’s can be room for indie makers and VR-backed startups to meet the unique demands for eateries — mom & pops, modern restaurants, tourist destinations, and so on.

Zoom solidified itself as an incumbent in the video space last year. Even after facing security issues early in the pandemic, and a sticky association with virtual fatigue (“ Zoom Gloom”), the company pressed on to launch Zoom Apps earlier this year.

We’ve written here and there about Zoom apps and tools. One of the newest is Macro, a Zoom client built for self-expression. Macro’s concept of “bringing your full self” plays out in features from quirky filters to Airtime, which helps nudge you towards inclusivity by signaling which participants are getting less time with the mic.

Macro launched its proof of concept a year ago, and today its Product Hunt launch debuts with a narrowed purpose and improvements based on user feedback.

“Talking with early Macro users helped us realize that what made Macro really valuable wasn't the note-taking and the slight productivity bump.... It was how it made them *feel* during the meeting,” co-founder Ankith Harathi shared.

To support self-expression, Macro is honed in on personalization. In an article for Product Hunt, Harathi shared why his team doubling down on personalization led to forming an opinion about who would “win” the video space.

“Zoom has crushed it as an app, on its way to becoming a platform, and we believe it will become the protocol winner in this space, ” he wrote.

While we’ve been impressed by a number of new video tool launches (like Butter and Sessions), Harathi’s explanation of the video landscape and creating “opinionated software” in the video space is worth a read.

You can read it here and check out the full list of features 👇.

Bitcoin rebounded to $50K last weekend. It has been on a steady rise since taking a tumble from its all-time high at over $64k in April.

Mainstream crypto adoption and performance are still heavily influenced by single players — Elon Musk walking back on his support for Bitcoin was one of the drivers of the downturn. Meanwhile, makers and investors in this space press on. Here are four innovative investment-focused products we’ve seen launch since the dip.

Token Alerts - For those that can tolerate high risk, this tool can be useful for moonshot investing. It scans the Binance Smart Chain and integrates with Reddit to alert you to pumping tokens you can flip via a real-time dashboard and desktop notifications.

VitaDAO - VitaDAO is a decentralized collective that funds research and drug development for longevity (i.e. the human lifespan). The DAO offers an alternative model from how biopharma is traditionally funded in this space, which is driven by intellectual property and patents — a model that’s often seen as least beneficial for patients and researchers. Members can join by purchasing VITA tokens or earning them through contributions of work.

Dibbs - Dibbs is in the fractional ownership and sportscard trading space but presents itself as the first 24-7, real-time fractional trading card marketplace. Dibbs investors can buy fractional interests in authenticated sports cards. The cards are stored in vaults and secured with blockchain technology.

Visionaire Beta - This fantasy football meets startup investing game allows you to earn real money by scouting companies, competing in tournaments, and ranking on the leaderboard. Players buy virtual stakes by purchasing Vision Shares (virtual equity NFTs) and collect Ether when their startup performs.

Now the question is: which startups would you put in your league first?

Interest in direct-to-consumer genetic testing is making a comeback.

A year ago, sales of DNA testing kits were down. 23andMe and Ancestry had to cut jobs because of the pandemic, and then Ancestry abandoned its testing kit business altogether.

Now things are looking up. This month 23andMe, which went public in June via a Richard Branson-founded SPAC, reported a 23% Q3 revenue increase from the previous year. Founder Anne Wojcicki had told Bloomberg a month prior, “It’s kind of an ideal time for us.”

The company has been moving to leverage more of its DNA data following an explosion in telehealth growth and renewed interest in genomics because of the coronavirus. It’s now building itself as a therapeutics company, has licensed its first drug, and has used its data to study how genomics contributes to how individuals react to Covid.

A startup in this space is leveling up too. Genomelink, founded in 2017, has just launched its 2.0 iteration today on Product Hunt following its S21 Y Combinator stint.

Genomelink allows users to re-use the data they’ve received from companies like 23andMe and Ancestry to “unlock hundreds of apps” that go deeper into what your DNA can reveal. The Japan-based founders have combined experience working in bio-info, medical platforms, and genetic testing.

Co-founder Tomohiro Takano explained that he was motivated to start Genomelink when he saw that cancer families were paying almost $2k for testing never-to-be-used again.

“We believe in the future, billions of people will have access to their DNA data. When that happens, imagine: [the place] where you will store DNA data and how you [will] connect data [to an] app ecosystem. That will be Genomelink in a nutshell,” he wrote.

The founders are looking for feedback from the Product Hunt community and have offered paid features in exchange for your thoughts. Get in on it by clicking through below.

OnlyFans dropped big news yesterday. The company that skyrocketed to popularity thanks to adult creators is banning sexually explicit content (mostly... nude content will be allowed; details are still fuzzy). It cited pressure from banks which checks out, since Visa and Mastercard recently cut ties with Pornhub.

OnlyFans' porn problem reaches elsewhere, too. Many VCs are prohibited from investing in explicit content, and the Apple/Google stores have strict policies on it. That’s why the first OnlyFans app is SFW along with its new free-streaming platform, OFTV, which launched a few days prior to announcing the big ban.

We’ll all be watching to see if the company can pull off this content strategy pivot. OnlyFans has over 130 million users on the site each month who tune into more than 2 million content creators. That does include some SFW creators like fitness instructors and chefs, but it’s the adult content that brings the milkshakes to the yard.

Beyond social media giants and their new tools, OnlyFans also has to compete with new competitors with all-in-one platforms for creators and subscribers. Gigs launched recently in this space. The “Shopify for video creators” streamlines the video process from creation and editing to monetization.

To attract new creators, OnlyFans will probably need to go beyond basic features like subscriptions and tipping. They could make an acquisition or beef up their creator tools, a space that’s on fire. Yesterday Riverside.fm, a podcast and video creation platform, launched its second iteration which enables creators to record 4K HD video and leverage features like AI Speaker View, split backgrounds, and background noise reduction. OnlyFans creators need tools like this.

It could also look to newcomers who take a sensual approach to “intimacy-related entertainment” content, like Bang and just-launched StoryMaze, to keep its existing fan base.

The bottom line is that while the company was on the earlier side of the creator renaissance, now it’s got work to do.

It’s good to be in the Stripe mafia.

That’s a term startuppy folks use for early employees who spin out their own startups, ICYDK. More than 40 new companies have been started by ex-Stripers to date. Some are still in stealth mode. Others have launched on Product Hunt, including Quill, Watershed, Clearbit,and OpenAI.

Sometimes Stripe invests in these startups, and recently Stripe backed one called Accord, which made its Product Hunt debut yesterday. Accord is a “customer collaboration platform” for sales and onboarding teams. The founding team of three is made up of two brothers with seasoned sales backgrounds – Ross Rich (who’s ex-Stripe), Ryan Rich (who’s ex-Google) – and Wayne Pan.

What's the startup? If you’ve ever been on either side of a B2B sale, your experience most likely included dealing with a mess of emails, chasing approvals, tracking pitch decks, and going back and forth on contracts. And enterprise sales? Imagine more of the same but with more people and on a bigger scale.

The goal of the Accord platform is to make the whole process flow better, with all of the information around a sale accessible for sales teams and customers. Accord's features include shared timelines and milestones, a resource center, and integrations with CRMs so that sales teams aren’t working against their current process.

More to the story. Accord fits within a growing trend called “buyer-first selling." Not long ago, we wrote about TestBox in this space too, which takes a “try it before you buy it” approach to enterprise sales.

Buyer-first approaches involve designing a sales process around the buyer and you can see how a sort of cross-company project management tool like Accord could make for a better buyer experience.

YC, at least, was convinced of the concept quickly. TechCrunch reported:

“[T]he founders applied to YC… and impressed the incubator with their insight and industry experience, even though they didn’t really have a product yet. In fact, they literally drew their original idea on a piece of paper.” 😮 Accord went on to be part of the W20 cohort.

Your browser may be your most used tool at work that’s not actually built for your work.

“Why aren’t companies who make browsers fixing obvious problems that prevent us from being more productive and enjoying our work more? [Because] knowledge workers make up just 1-2% of their user bases.” Dmitry Pushkarev shared on Product Hunt.

So competition among neo-browsers has been heating up. Pushkarev’s Sidekick and Suhail Doshi’s Mighty and are two notable new products from the last year, filling the void that legacy browsers (RIP Internet Explorer) left.

Sidekick’s answer is a browser built atop Chromium, featuring a UX built for working with apps and clutter control. Mighty’s launch was hyper-focused on speed. Both took #1 Product of the Day spots on Product Hunt launch day and have gained steam.

Now a new browser, SigmaOS, has thrown its hat in the ring with a “radically different UX.”

“It's built around workspaces and multitasking… Your browser activity is separated into workspaces — one workspace per project,” founder Mahyad explained.

The makers looked to Vim, Slack, Notion, and the defunct Rockmelt for UX inspiration. Like Sidekick, SigmaOS workspaces help to organize your pages and apps. Other features include the ability to snooze pages, split your screen, and instantly share links across apps. SigmaOS is built using the WebKit engine.

Maker Sarav Mitra admits the product may not be particularly appealing to browser extension power users who have refined their perfect setup, but the browser can be a one-stop-shop for others.

Will SigmaOS be the next #1 browser? You decide. 👇