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Stickybits has raised $1.9M across 2 funding rounds.
Key people at Stickybits.
Stickybits was founded in 2010 by Seth Goldstein (Co-Founder & Chairman).
Stickybits has raised $1.9M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Stickybits offers a platform designed to bridge the digital and physical realms through scannable barcodes. The company enables users to attach digital content, such as messages, videos, or photos, to physical objects by assigning unique digital identifiers, known as stickybits, to conventional barcodes. When scanned, these stickybits reveal the associated digital information and allow others to contribute, effectively transforming static items into interactive social objects within a network.
The company was co-founded by Billy Chasen, known for his work as the original programmer behind Chartbeat, and Seth Goldstein, who previously founded and chaired SocialMedia. They conceived of Stickybits following a meeting in late 2009, leading to the platform's launch around March 2010. Their shared insight was the potential to imbue everyday physical objects with a dynamic digital layer, creating a novel way for people to interact with their environment and each other.
Stickybits serves individuals seeking to personalize and share experiences tied to physical items, from consumer products to personal belongings. By making physical objects accessible for digital interaction and content contribution, the company envisions a future where the material world is more engaging, connected, and imbued with personal meaning, fostering a pervasive network of digitally enhanced physical interactions.
Key people at Stickybits.
Stickybits has raised $1.9M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $1.6M Other Equity in May 2010.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2010 | $1.6M Venture Round | — | Howard Morgan, Lowercase Capital, Polaris Partners | Announced |
| Mar 1, 2010 | $300K Seed | Polaris Partners | General Catalyst, IVP, Kapor Capital, Sequoia Capital, Mitchell Kapor | Announced |
Stickybits was founded in 2010 by Seth Goldstein (Co-Founder & Chairman).
Stickybits has raised $1.9M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Stickybits's investors include Howard Morgan, Lowercase Capital, Polaris Partners, General Catalyst, IVP, Kapor Capital, Sequoia Capital, Mitchell Kapor.
Stickybits was an early mobile technology company that built a platform bridging the physical and digital worlds by allowing users to scan barcodes or QR codes on everyday objects, attaching audio, video, photo, or text messages—essentially turning objects into interactive message boards.[1][2][6] It served consumers and developers seeking to augment real-world items with shareable digital content, solving the problem of making physical objects participatory and social in the emerging smartphone era, with an open API for building apps on top of the platform.[1][2] The company gained early buzz in New York City's startup scene around 2010, raising $1.6 million in funding, but appears inactive today based on available records, predating modern AR/VR trends it foreshadowed.[1]
Stickybits launched in March 2010 after founders Peter Martin, Seth Goldstein, and Alex Rainert built a prototype in just 100 days with $100,000, under the tagline "Tag your world."[5] The idea emerged from the rapid growth of smartphones as handheld scanners and the ubiquity of barcodes, enabling an "augmented reality" overlay on physical objects without specialized hardware.[1][5] Early traction came from users scanning everyday items like cereal boxes and soda cans to leave reviews or messages, sparking viral engagement; the company quickly raised $1.6 million from investors including First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman, Chris Sacca, and Howard Morgan, who praised its extension of the social web to objects.[1][3]
Stickybits rode the 2010 explosion in smartphone adoption and QR code proliferation, positioning itself as a pioneer in "physical web" augmentation—linking ubiquitous barcodes to social data before Pokémon GO or Snapchat filters popularized similar concepts.[1][5] Its timing capitalized on post-iPhone hardware enabling easy scanning, amid rising interest in location-based services like Foursquare, while market forces like cheap vinyl stickers and free printables lowered barriers to viral spread.[6] Though short-lived, it influenced the startup ecosystem by inspiring developer platforms for real-world interactivity and highlighting New York as a hub for mobile innovation, as noted in early "hot startups" lists.[1]
Stickybits exemplified visionary early mobile tech that didn't scale commercially but seeded ideas now central to AR platforms and Web3 object tagging. What's next is unclear, as no recent activity appears post-2010 (distinct from unrelated 2022 Indian firm Stickybit Technologies).[4] Trends like AI-driven object recognition and NFC could revive its "tag your world" ethos in modern apps, potentially evolving its influence through acquisitions or spiritual successors in immersive tech. This nimble NYC experiment reminds us how today's giants often build on such bold, object-focused bets.
