bitstrips closes $8m series b as it launches custom emoji app, bitmoji

what happens whenstickers and emoji collide in a bespokemash-up that uses your own self-image as the canvas? bitmoji happens that’s what: a new android and ios app frompersonalized comic strips app bitstripsthat lets you create a custom avatar by choosing your face shape, haircut and color, and so on and then have the app turn your cartoon likenessinto customemoji and stickers.if you think that sounds a bitlike extant bitstrips, the point is to support a whole lot more granularcustomization with “literally billions” of possible combinations claimedenabling you toavatarizeyour uniquesnowflakeness. if i can put it like that.
yes, people, emojimaniahas really come to this.at launch there are “hundreds” of personalized bitmoji stickers to choose from, all given the stamp of personalization by starringyour own custom avatar.as well as touting itsnew standalone emoji app, which can runwithin the native keyboard interface so users can copy and paste custom stickers into themissives they are composing within other apps includingwhatsapp and imessage (so long as they support copy/pasting into the text field) bitstripshas also today confirmed it’s closed an $8 million series b funding round from horizons ventures andkleiner perkins caufield & byers.that’s less than the amount we heard bitstrips was hoping to raiseearlier this year, when our sourcessuggestedit was seeking$15 million. emoji are hot but evidently not $15m ofhawt.bitstrips said its newfunding will beput towardscontinued product development and hiring new talent, noting that it has doubled the size of itsteam in the last year andnow has 23 employees. figuring out how to monetize its customcomics craze, before it runs out of steam, is surely also going to be front of mind for the team.
bitstrips says “tens of millions” of avatars have been created with its original comic strip app, thus far, with facebook hosting much of this cartoonification. it’s clearly hoping to replicate that social spreadby making it easier foritspersonalized stickers to land on other popularmobile messaging platforms, which have highly engaged user-bases andwhere sticker swapping is awell established comms medium.however it’s arguablyon the back foot here, with big messaging platforms such asline having already established their own distinctivesticker ip. the question is whether personalized stickers can pull users’ eyeballs away from some of thecute cartoon franchises (and localized content) already being pushed by these platforms.stickers which, in the case of line, area keyrevenue stream for its own business.so will custom vanity or kawaii plus marketing muscle prevail? file that one under ‘the great questions of our age’.