Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, June 15 (TMTPOST) — Chinese livestreaming social platform Inke announced on Wednesday it renamed itself from Inke to Inkeverse.

The name change marks the company’s official entry into the metaverse sector.

Inkeverse’s president Feng Yousheng said that the company decided to change its name and enter the metaverse sector for a few reasons. Currently, Inkeverse is highly associated with livestreaming while livestreaming is only part of the company’s product ecosystem. Inkeverse needs to reinvent its brand name and brand image to adapt to new trends instead of using one of its product name as the company name.

Inkeverse’s share in Hong Kong rose by 6.77% to HK$1.42 per share after the news report entered circulation.

The company has three main businesses—livestreaming, dating and social media. At the press conference, Inkeverse’s COO Hou Guangling introduced the company’s new product ecosystem to the audience, including a metaverse-related product.

One of the new products that Inkeverse announced was a Karaoke feature that will be available on the company’s livestreaming app Inke. The new feature makes use of 3D technology to simulate a Karaoke room that provides an immersive Karaoke experience and interaction. In the future, the feature will also support VR devices.

The second product that was announced at the press conference is a metaverse social networking app named “Couple Planet”, which is positioned as a social app for dating couples. After matching with each other, the couples can create their own private space on the metaverse space. Users are allowed to customize their avatars, raise pets, do karaoke, watch movies and play games in the metaverse.

Another product that was introduced is The Place, a social networking app that targets Gen-Z users in North America and Europe. Users are allowed to create their own 3D avatars with the app. The company’s COO Hou said that the product is still in its early research and development phase.