Stickery said Tuesday it received seed funding of almost $500,000 from Google Ventures, 500 Startups and several strategic investors in the United States, Europe and Asia. The San Francisco company, which went through the AngelPad incubator program, also launched its latest mobile game, “Mermaid Waters: Adventures of Hana & Cory.”
PRESS RELEASE
AngelPad Startup Stickery Raises Funding from Google Ventures and 500 Startups
SAN FRANCISCO, October 11, 2011 — Stickery, developer of a mobile learning game platform for children, announced its seed funding today from Google Ventures, 500 Startups and several strategic investors from the United States, Europe and Asia. The new investment will be used to build out the team and expand the product to additional platforms and markets.
The AngelPad-funded company also launched its latest mobile game, “Mermaid Waters: Adventures of Hana & Cory” on the iOS platform. This game is the first of a serialized adventure and learning platform for preschool children and their parents.
The current rapid adoption of smartphones by preschool children has shifted the paradigm of what “play” means to them. However, many mobile games continue to adopt a highly disengaged interaction model with parents. Stickery plans to work with educators and cross-disciplinary domain experts to re-imagine a new model for children’s gaming that is engaging to them and yet customized for the modern and mobile parent.
“We were frustrated with the lack of smartphone applications that could entertain and educate young kids at the same time,” said Bjorn Lee, Co-founder and CEO of Stickery. “Parents have a challenge keeping their kids away from highly entertaining games like “Angry Birds” to focus on some real learning. Mobile games for kids need to get out of the “euphoria” phase of sensory stimulation into the “eureka” phase of intellectual discovery. Our Stickery games mark the start of a journey to redefine children’s games for a new generation of mobile-toting and digitally savvy parents.”
Stickery was formed in late 2010 after an invite-only boot camp that was organized by Startl, the non-profit accelerator for digital learning, in partnership with IDEO. This was followed by Stickery’s acceptance into the Angelpad incubator program. After the AngelPad demo day in March, the Stickery team received investments from Google Ventures and strategic angels to continue growing the project.
Phoenix Wang, co-founder of Startl and mother to a young girl, noted, “The touch interface on mobile devices enables young children to direct their own digital experiences in ways like no other. We are at the beginning of a shift in user experience, and Stickery is a wonderful example for what’s to come.”
“After watching my preschool son pick up the iPad for the first time, I realized this is changing learning as we know it,” added Thomas Korte, founder of AngelPad and father of a five-year-old boy. “The Stickery team is on the forefront of a new wave of learning tools. Their deep understanding of touch interface technology and collaboration with world-renowned children learning experts will drive innovations in education.”
More information can be found at www.stickeryapp.com .
Press Contact:
Bjorn Lee
+1-650-561-5507
bjorn@stickeryapp.com
About Stickery:
Stickery is a mobile learning game platform for kids, with post-game analytics for parents. All our game content is based on preschool curriculum standards & approved by educators. Our apps collect usage data to generate progress reports, which help parents to track the learning value of playtime on the iPhone. Watch the video trailer of “Mermaid Waters” here: http://bit.ly/qXQc9J Link for the iOS app: http://bit.ly/nKOieO
About Google Ventures:
For more information, visit www.googleventures.com
About 500 Startups:
For more information, visit http://500.co/
About AngelPad:
For more information, visit http://angelpad.org/
