New York City-based startup The Fancy* is trying a different approach. In September, the commerce-minded photo-sharing network--which lets users post pics of products and in theory purchase the items directly from the site--went the Birchbox route with a monthly subscription service. The idea being luring in users with small-scale affordable versions of the pricey, aspirational goods The Fancy tends to attract.

But recently, the Pinterest competitor announced that any user can now curate their own monthly subscription box. The company will handle the transaction and take care of packing and shipping and you get to keep half the profits from sales. It's kicking off this off with an A+ box of "the dopest stuff on the Fancy" from its investor, Ashton Kutcher. For $45 a month, buyers will get $90 worth of Beardo hats, headphones, and stickers, by the looks of it.

Wired explains how to follow in Mr. Kutcher's monetizing footsteps:

"You can sign up by e-mailing myfancybox@thefancy.com and once they set you up, you get to pick from a list of popular products on The Fancy, or add anything else you like from the internet, so long as isn’t deemed inappropriate by the startup’s staff (think offensive t-shirts, weapons, or drugs). The Fancy says it is looking for all kinds of people to make boxes, says a company spokesperson. That might seem like a risky business decision, but the company won’t procure any of the products for a box until one sells."

Attaching bold-face names to subscription services is de rigueur. Just ask Kim Kardashian's ShoeDazzle/every other startup in L.A. But the idea of empowering users to make (some) money and share links to the Fancy is the kind of hustle one expects when Kanye West is advising you on "social, mobile, swag." Funny, though, this sounds like exactly the kind of business model that would do really well on Pinterest.

*Disclosure

Fancy's fanciest fan. (Photo: wikipedia.org)

Ceci N'est Pas Une Sandy The affordable-art-dealing website 20 x 200 is now selling a print of a NASA satellite image of Hurricane Sandy. All proceeds from the sale will go to the Red Cross to help relief efforts. The striking image was taken at 9:02 a.m on Sunday, approximately 10 hours before NYC’s MTA shut transport service down throughout the tristate area. Hang it above your couch of a constant reminder of the grander universe and just how much you appreciate your wifi.

More Money, More Fancy Fancy, Pinterest's cooler older brother, has raised just over $26 million in additional funding. New investors include Celtics owner Jim Pallotta, Twitter and Square cofounder Jack Dorsey and Edward Gilligan, the vice chairman of American Express. This also ruins rumors that Apple was planning to acquire the company. No word yet on what their favorite user, Kanye West, thinks of the new influx of cash.

Santa Set to Make a Lot Of Web Boxes This Year Boxee, the New York rival to Apple TV and Roku, is planning to sell its $98 Boxee TV in Walmarts all across the U.S. The new device will be sold in 3,000 Walmarts. This is obviously a huge boost for the company, which sold 120,000 units last year. And unlimited DVR is about as American as Apple pie.

Zynga, What? Zynga may have picked some slightly unpronounceable Gibraltar-based startup to launch its foray into real-money gaming. But that hasn't hurt Betable's chances of becoming the Spotify of online social gambling. The platform, which is backed by investors like Path's David Morin and TechStars' David Tisch, lets developers build real-money games on its platform. Today, Betable announced that it will be lending its services to Slingo, Digital Chocolate and Murka. The company also just helped Big Fish launch a casino app called Big Fish Casino that lets U.K. users gamble with actual money.

NYC vs. SF, Finally Settled If you're ever stuck trying to decide whether to decamp to the Valley, then Versus IO is the site for you. It uses an algorithm to compare two alike things and show you points and counterpoints in a sparse layout. It currently can compare cities and a variety of tech products (think iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 5). But what about the immortal conundrum of pizza vs. Chinese?

Shiny New Doors Glassdoor, a California-based jobs site, has raised $20 million in a new financing round led by DAG Ventures. The round also included Benchmark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures and Battery Ventures. The company told GigaOm that traffic to Glassdoor has reached 13 million monthly uniques and that revenue has increased 175 percent.

Get Your Game on GitHub has just announced a monthlong gaming hackathon on its blog. The GitHub Game Off will take place during November, and entrants will have to create a game looselybased on the concepts of forking (or forks), branching (or branches), cloning (or clones), pushing or pulling. There are five new iPads with Retina displays (64GB wifi models) available as prizes.

Big Conductor Conductor, an SEO platform, has just announced a big raise that it's calling "the largest venture capital round of funding in SEO technology." The company managed to scoop up $20 million, led by Investor Growth Capital. FirstMark Capital and Matrix Partners also participated.

Vimeo Workout Plan Reece Pacheco's video startup Shelby.tv, which is still in beta mode, has teamed up with workout site Nerd Fitness to create Nerdfitness.tv. The new site has a scrolling feed of videos to keep you motivated and to teach you how to work out. Let's hope no one gets caught up watching too many videos and forgets to go to the gym.

Dream It, Do It, Microsoft It Startup accelerator Dreamit Ventures has partnered up with Microsoft to give its startups access to the software development tools and networking of the BizSpark program. DreamIt also is planning to select one company from each of its programs to receive additional benefits as part of the BizSpark Fellow program. Fellows will get access to Microsoft expert engineers and evangelists to help build out their products. Qualifying startups can also access up to $60,000 in Windows Azure services over two years. FlagTap, an online capture the flag game that aims to increase web traffic, has been chosen as the first fellow of the program.

This one appears to be Brooklyn themed? (Photo: The Fancy)

The Fancy*, the New York City-based Pinterest competitor where users can browse and share products they love, has decided to enter the subscription box service. We thought you were too fancy for that, Fancy?

According to a press release sent to Betabeat, The Fancy has launched its first ever monthly subscription box that is curated entirely by the crowd. A $60 value for $30/month, users can pick from their favorite categories like "Art" or "Pets" and get a box filled with some of The Fancy users' favorite products in that category.

"This feature is available to all of our users (nearly 2 MM) and anyone who signs up for Fancy," reads the release. "We are incredibly excited about this new feature and believe this will be a great addition to the Fancy platform as we lead into the holidays."

For a site that specializes in insanely high-end items (yes, Nas' favorite floating magnetic bed, we're looking at you), an affordable subscription box might open the concept up to less liquid ballers. But frankly, we'd be much more interested in getting celebrity-curated boxes. Perhaps Fancy friend Kanye can create a Paris-themed one?

*Disclosure

This is what we are picturing. (Photo: Morsipr.blogspot.com)

Fresh off blowing up Mitt Romney's tax scheme spot on the opening track of Cruel Summer, Kanye West must have decided it was safe to take his eye off the throne for a minute. We hear the rapper dropped by General Assembly's East campus at 902 Broadway today to meet with a startup. "He was just there. He was in the classroom," an entrepreneur stationed in the coworking space told Betabeat. "He didn't have many people with him and was just in the front. I think he was in the classroom most of the morning."

We first noticed the sighting via a tweet from Matthew Witheiler, principal at Flybridge Capital Partners. Alex Taub, head of biz dev at Dwolla, also tweeted about the surprise guest--and his stylish wardrobe choice. Another venture capitalist, Nikhil Kalghatgi at Softbank Ventures, used the social network to express his disbelief. Meanwhile, student developer Chevon Christie was bummed to have missed the whole thing.

Crazy world. @kanyewest currently meeting with a company at @ga.

— Matthew Witheiler (@witheiler) September 13, 2012

Okay... @kanyewest is at @ga . Was just listening to Watch The Throne one minute ago. Also- nice pants! — Alexander Taub (@ajt) September 13, 2012

@nikhilkal @kanyewest @ga black and red pants. They were really nice. I sort of want to know where they are from... — Alexander Taub (@ajt) September 13, 2012

Apparently, kanye came by my workplace, @ga, today.. #HowDidIMissThat?

— Chevon Christie (@ChevonChr) September 13, 2012

Last summer, Mr. West (along with Lady Gaga) was rumored to have invested in the music startup Turntable.fm. Unlike Elevation Partners cofounder "Bono Rockstar," Mr. West does not yet have a Crunchbase profile and the deal, as far as we know, is unconfirmed. However, he's no stranger to Silicon Alley. Mr. West was recently seen advising Joseph Einhorn, founder of The Fancy. At the time, a company rep told Betabeat, “He gave some advice to our CEO Joe Einhorn, who looks up to Kanye the way most tech folks idolize Steve Jobs." Earlier this year, Mr. West disclosed plans for "a new collective of creatives and developers" called DONDA. The startup, he said, will have 22 divisions aligned under the goal of making "products and experiences that people want and can afford."

As for today's classroom session at GA, it's unclear whether Mr. West was teaching, learning or recruiting. If you know the identity of the mystery startup, holler at your girls: tips@betabeat.com.

(Photo: Crunchbase)

Thrive Capital, the New York-based venture capital firm helmed by 26-year-old Josh Kushner*, announced today that it has successfully raised a $150 million fund for early and later stage startups. The news comes almost a year to the day after Thrive announced a $40 million raise from investors like Princeton University. The fresh $150 million comes from a slew of some of the same investors, including Princeton, Wellcome Trust and Hall Capital Partners.

Thrive has backed many of New York's recent notable startup exits. The firm was an investor in Instagram, purchased by Facebook for $1 billion; Hot Potato, also purchased by Facebook for around $10 million; and GroupMe, purchased by Skype for more than $50 million.

The current Thrive portfolio reads like a who's who in New York tech: the company is also an investor in Pinterest competitor The Fancy, flash sales site Fab and e-commerce glasses hub Warby Parker.

“Many see the way the Internet has already transformed our daily lives and conclude that most of the change that was going to happen already has.” Mr. Kushner told The New York Times. “I am of the belief that it is only the beginning.”

*Disclosure: Thrive Capital is invested in several start-up companies. Josh Kushner, a Thrive principal, is also part-owner of Observer Media Group, which owns Betabeat. Betabeat has no affiliation with Thrive Capital and the views expressed in Betabeat do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Thrive Capital or its principals.

Startup game tight (Photo: @KanyeWest)

Earlier today, New York City startup The Fancy* emailed Betabeat to let us know that "One of our favorite users stopped by the office today :)." Oh, yes we'd noticed. And retweeted.

We've documented Kanye West's interest in The Fancy--a fast-growing startup that turns posted photos into a consumerist's dream--before. But what exactly was Yeezy doing palling around the office?

"He gave some advice to our CEO Joe Einhorn, who looks up to Kanye the way most tech folks idolize Steve Jobs," the company replied. "It's all about building the future of commerce. Social, mobile, swag." Funny, we always thought it was social, mobile, local.

Mark Zuckerberg himself is a Fancy user, but the startup's members also includes Nas (who has posted 33 photos of must-have items like a magnetic floating bed and his own album) and Rick Ross.

Makes sense, we guess. After all, this is practically Startupland's theme song:

*Disclosure

Annnd WHAT, mothafuckas? (Photo: About.me)

Let the games begin, my friends. Due to API restrictions, Twitter is no longer allowing Instagram app users to use the “Find Your Friends” feature to connect with their friends on Twitter. But Instagram doesn’t seem too bogged down by the news--possibly because it's busy celebrating reaching 80 million users today.

The “Find Your Friends” feature is still available on other apps, including The Fancy and Foursquare. However, The Fancy only boast around one million users and Foursquare around 10 million, a fraction of the milestone Instagram reached today.

Given Instagram’s ever-expanding user base, Twitter may be unable to withstand the data pull from the “Find Your Friends” feature. Or, as TechCrunch speculates, it could be a conniving attack on Facebook’s latest pet. With Zuck set to acquire Instagram for $1 billion, Twitter may be pulling a few tricks against its competitors. (Dick Costolo's probably cackling in his office right now.)

But this whole mafia-esque scenario does get a little incestuous – Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey (now CEO of Square) is also an investor in Instagram. Would he really be willing to kill his baby in the battle for social media dominance? Maybe so, if they can't keep his site running without any bugs.

Meanwhile, Instagram seems content to toast over reaching its 80 million users and four billion photos shared benchmark, just three months after releasing its Android application. And Kevin Systrom told VentureBeat that they have “some pretty fun things in the pipeline.”

Betabeat has reached out to Twitter and Instagram and will update you when we hear more about this thrilling social networking drama.

(Photo: The Fancy)

Today, social e-commerce site The Fancy* announced that they would begin giving credit to users who curate and share products that lead to a purchase. That's right, you can now get paid for those aspirational impulses.

A unique referral code will be appended to every item you share, and if someone purchases that product after clicking on your link, The Fancy will provide you with 2 percent of the price of the item sold 30 days after the purchase. All of your credits will be tracked and displayed on a comprehensive dashboard.

With this move, the company is basically providing a monetary incentive to become a power user. (We sense a lot of coltish, wavy-haired fashion bloggers squee-ing into their iPhones right now.)

The Fancy is attempting to differentiate itself from competitors like Pinterest by becoming a full-fledged marketplace, as opposed to just an inspiration board. According to the press release (which takes an entertaining direct swipe at Pinterest):

This is the true promise of social commerce. Unlike our peers, who have been stripping out user's affiliate links and directing the profits to themselves, The Fancy aims to reward its customers and curators by empowering them to earn credit for the items they Fancy and share. We can do this because we're not just about discovery and self expression, we're also a fully functioning marketplace.

The Fancy's new dashboard. (Photo: The Fancy)

The Fancy has seen impressive growth since its launch, and now boasts over a million users that power $10,000 in sales a day (though compared to Pinterest's 10+ million users, they're still very much the underdog). Oh, and one of those users just happens to be Zuck--though the only thing he apparently fancies is a library shelving system. Yawn.

"We're making it simple for our users to transform their online influence into real money," said Fancy founder and CEO Joe Einhorn in the release. "That's something that anyone, no matter how web savvy, can see the value in."

*Disclosure

Betabeat obtained what appear to be screenshots from The Fancy for Flipboard, which has not been released. Flipboard allegedly commissioned the app in January, according to a source, and would have been The Fancy's first API customer. The source speculated that Flipboard prioritized its Pinterest integration first. (Pinterest is a The Fancy competitor.)

Flipboard may still be planning to introduce The Fancy integration. We've reached out to Fancy and Flipboard for comment and will update if we hear back. (UPDATE: Joe Einhorn of The Fancy declined to comment on Flipboard, but he said The Fancy does have an API and is working with partners. Said Flipboard: "We think the Fancy is doing great work and hope to work with them at some time. We are heads down right now with several new  additions to Flipboard.") In the meantime, check out what The Fancy on Flipboard would have, or will eventually, look like.

Now for sale on The Fancy: Cookie Monster cupcakes. (Photo: The Fancy)

The new OKCupid TheDatable, a new social dating site, allows users to tag their single or, more selectively, “datable” Facebook friends—so that prospective dates can browse for partners within three degrees of separation, i.e. their friends’ friends. Non-singles can join too, but expect to be tagged as a “wing.”

Not just 140 characters The web series network Blip will partner with Twitter in its launch of “expanded tweets”—which will include links to partner websites and content previews allowing users to view images, play videos and more, all within the tweet itself.

DIY Pintrest competitor The Fancy has partnered with the peer-to-peer marketplace Zaarly so that users can buy and sell DIY items like this Lego head propane tank and these Cookie Monster cupcakes.

Midtown madness Online advertising company TruEffect has opened an engineering lab in Midtown and tapped MIT grad Thatcher Clay to run the division.

Photoshop Aviary’s photo editing app is now available for iPhone and Android.

Sustain IT Brooklyn Beta and the City of New York are teaming up next weekend to host Reinvent Green, the city’s first sustainability hackathon, at NYU Poly.

Summer soundtrack Since its release for iPad last week, the Songza iOS app has gotten more than 1.15 million downloads. The team is apparently celebrating its success with a new playlist entitled “Pre-gaming with Ke$ha,” curated by the namesake herself.

Blue ribbon SpotlessCity won first place at the Ultra Light Startups Pitch Showdown last week.

Investors wanted Today is the Building New York’s Innovation Pipeline event at the SUNY Levin Institute. The workshop will include a roundtable chaired by Stephen Cohen, Deputy Commissioner of the Empire State Development Corporation, to discuss the statewide innovation ecosystem, as well as a keynote address by Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, the founder of the world’s leading nanotech center, the Albany Nanotech Complex.

Now hiring We hear that Warby Parker is looking for an Email Marketing Specialist, Signpost needs an Interim CFO and Sageworks wants a Chief Risk Officer.