Spike, a Tel Aviv-based start-up, will be the first Israeli app to be integrated into the metaverse platform launched by Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed plans to rename the social-media giant Meta as the company’s vision expands beyond communications to a new world of virtual reality.
Spike transforms email into a chat-like interface, bringing messaging, collaboration, tasks and video/audio calls into one place. It was added over the weekend to the Oculus Store as one of the first 2D productivity apps to launch for the virtual-reality headset, the company said.
The app works with existing email accounts and is also available for iPhones, Android devices, Mac and PC.
“The collaboration between Spike and Facebook will bridge the gaps of remote work, improve the work routine, as well as create interpersonal interactions out of an understanding of the importance of creating a personal space in the virtual world,” Spike said in a press release. “Teams will be able to manage projects, tasks and collaborate in real time more efficiently and effectively through the Oculus Quest, and in the future, through 3D platforms. Whether you need to meet a teammate or client overseas, you can meet virtually to feel like a frontal interaction.”
Spike was founded in 2018 and is now used by 150,000 companies and teams around the world, it said. Among its investors are Insight Partners, Wix, NFX and Zoom CEO Eric Yuan.
Many people around the world are struggling to understand the vision for the metaverse Zuckerberg laid out last week. Many see the term, which was coined in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science-fiction novel Snow Crash, as referring to a more advanced generation of the Internet, with newer technologies such as virtual-reality headsets bringing people together in new ways.
Others envision a virtual world of online communities where people live, shop and play in alternate realities.