EffervescenceAn anonymous social app that started on college campuses, it’s going global in more ways than one. Its Global Fizz feed is allowing the app to grow beyond university communities and serve a broader user base, and the app has made a mark with its first launch overseas, in Saudi Arabia.
When Fizz quietly debuted in Saudi Arabia in mid-March, its founder and CEO Teddy Solomon I didn’t expect the app to catch on like it did. Within 48 hours, the app reached number one overall on the App Store charts; It remains number one in the news category, Solomon told TechCrunch. He added that Fizz users sent more than a million messages last week.
“We’ve always known that our big goal is to be a generational social product, rather than a university social app, and now we’re finally executing on that,” Solomon said.
Fizz has not commented so far on its international expansion.
Solomon and his co-founder, Ashton Cofer, Fizz started 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 non-students to join location-based communities. Users have the option to post with a handle, but 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 subreddits.
Solomon said that when he attended a conference in Dubai, he saw Fizz’s expansion potential in the Middle East. Shortly after, Fizz marketing analyst Michael Fonseca moved to Saudi Arabia to make connections in the area and better understand the culture, paving the way for Fizz’s international launch.
“Mike was really welcomed with open arms,” Solomon said. “I think (Saudi Arabia) has changed quite a bit in recent years.” The country is “jumping right now,” Solomon said. “Business is booming. The social scene and the social landscape is booming. Snapchat is huge there. And social apps are huge in the region, whether it’s Snap, WhatsApp or TikTok, whatever the other app is.”
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This change in the country’s image is intentional. In 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a government plan called Saudi vision 2030whose objective is to reduce the country’s financial dependence on oil. This strategy involves modernizing the country’s image: women can now drive legallyfor example – and invest in Western technology companies, such as Google and Uber. More recently, the crown prince launched a state-funded artificial intelligence company called Human.
Despite these changes, Saudi Arabia remains an absolute monarchy, ruled by a royal family that suppresses freedom of expression. In 2024, the Saudi government condemned Manahel al-Otaibi to 11 years in prison for the “terrorist crime” of tweeting about women’s rights and posting photos on Snapchat in which she was not wearing a traditional abaya, according to Amnesty International.
When operating in Saudi Arabia, Fizz should be aware that the monarchy could monitor its app for posts it deems offensive, demand that certain content be removed, or even arrest someone based on their Fizz posts. Solomon has no clear plan on how Fizz would handle such situations.
“The answer is we will cross that bridge when we get there,” he said. “We are very confident in our guidelines. We are moderating very strictly and in a way that satisfies the people of the region and making sure that we respect the rules of the region and the rules of the country.”
Fizz says he has not received investment from any Saudi Arabian entity and has not communicated with anyone in the government.
Solomon said Fizz has invested heavily in Arabic natural language processing tools to support its content moderation efforts. The company has also brought on “hundreds” of volunteer moderators from Saudi Arabia’s Fizz community. Fizz uses a similar strategy in its campus communities: It uses AI content moderation tools, but also seeks out volunteer moderators who better understand the nuances of campus culture, giving them more context when making moderation decisions.
“There’s a lot of care for their community,” Solomon said. “There’s a lot of pride in their country, a lot of pride in the city they live in, and they like the platform. They want to keep the platform safe and they feel very honored to do so.”
