Giggles Raises $1M+ to Turn Viral Content Into a Stock Market for Videos

The social network lets users buy into videos early and earn if they go viral

SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Giggles, a social app that lets users buy and sell stakes in videos, has raised over $1 million in pre-seed funding led by 1kx, with participation from Noar Ventures, Bain Capital Scout, Virtuals Protocol, early Kalshi investor Night Capital, and others. The round closed in 2025, and brought the total funding to over $1.2M USD.

On Giggles, early participants in content discovery are rewarded. Users can "buy into" a video early and earn rewards if it gains traction across the platform, shifting social media from passive consumption to active participation.

"Giggles is designed for a new generation who are already discovering, backing, and amplifying trends across the internet," says Justin Jin, co-founder and CEO of Giggles. "There's real social currency in being the person who "brought" a trend to a friend group. People want to find content early, share it, and shape what spreads. With user-generated assets like meme coins, we saw the emergence of a new social and financial behavior."

"Users are treating cultural discovery the way investors treat early equity stakes," adds Edwin Wang, co-founder and CTO of Giggles. "We're tapping into how people already act on platforms like TikTok, where they comment 'I'm early' or 'investing in this post. We turned that into something users can actually act on."

"Prediction markets show that people enjoy having a stake in outcomes, not just watching them unfold," says Jakub Rusiecki, research associate at 1kx. "We believe the concept of rewarding young people for identifying viral content early is an elegant blend of social participation and financialized incentives, representing a consequential new market and new social media."

In the coming months, the team plans to expand product capabilities, introduce real-money mechanics, and scale distribution ahead of its public launch.

Giggles opened its beta in August 2025 and reached nearly 30,000 daily active users, seeing initial viral adoption across high schools and college campuses in the U.S. The platform has also attracted over 400,000 users to its waitlist ahead of a broader iOS, Android, and web release.

For updates and more information on Giggles' public launch, visit the company's website at giggles.me or @giggles_app on X.

About Giggles

Giggles is a social media app in which all content is tradable. Users can easily discover and buy, forming markets where early discovery of popular videos, memes, news, creators, and more can reap financial returns.

Giggles was founded in 2025 by Canadian entrepreneurs 19-year-old Justin Jin and 20-year-old Edwin Wang. Jin and Wang initially met on Hypixel, the most popular Minecraft server, as top players.

The two built their first business in high school buying and selling items on Minecraft. Jin, who became a YouTuber with over 100,000 subscribers, founded Mediababy, a video publisher with over 20 billion views, while Wang co-founded MyBite, a Generation Z social food delivery app.

About 1kx

1kx is a research-driven, fundamentals-focused global investment firm. Founded in 2018 by tech entrepreneurs Lasse Clausen and Chris Heymann, 1kx invests at key inflection points for blockchain technologies to create breakthrough opportunities across industries. The firm's mission is to develop the domain expertise and thought leadership required to accelerate the most consequential markets emerging at the intersection of blockchain and the broader economy.

As one of the top-performing and most institutionalized funds in the blockchain space, 1kx partners with a diverse global investor base, including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, endowments, foundations, fund of funds, corporations, and family offices. Renowned for its hands-on approach, technical rigor, and unwavering long-term commitment to founders, 1kx has empowered over 150 visionary startups to scale transformative projects while delivering enduring returns for its investors.

To learn more, visit https://1kx.capital/ or @1kxnetwork on X.

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The 5th Column 1kx@the5thcolumnpr.com

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