With more than 270,000 stickers, Stipop\u2019s library of colorful, character-driven expressions has a little something for everyone.<\/p>\n
The company offers keyboard and social app stickers through ad-supported mobile apps on iOS and Android, but it\u2019s recently focused more on providing stickers to developers, creators and other online businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to gather so many artists because we actually began as our own app that provided stickers,\u201d Stipop<\/a> co-founder Tony Park told TechCrunch. The team took what they learned from running their own consumer-facing app \u2014 namely that collecting and licensing hundreds of thousands of stickers from artists around the world is hard work \u2014 and adapted their business to help solve that problem for others.<\/p>\n Stipop was the first Korean company to go through Yellow, Snapchat\u2019s exclusive accelerator. The company is also part of Y Combinator\u2019s Summer 2021 cohort.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stipop\u2019s sticker library is accessible through an SDK and an API, letting developers slot the searchable sticker library into their existing software. The company already has more than 200 companies that tap into its huge sticker trove, which offers a \u201csingle-day solution\u201d for a process that would otherwise necessitate a lot more legwork. Stipop launched a website<\/a> recently that helps developers integrate its SDK and API through quick installs.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can just add a single line of code inside their product and will have a fully customized sticker feature [so] users will be able to spice up their chats,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n Park points out that stickers encourage engagement \u2014 and for social software, engagement means growth. Stickers are a playful way to send characters back and forth in chat, but they also pop up in a number of other less obvious spots, from dating apps to e-commerce and ridesharing apps. Stipop even drives the sticker search in work collaboration software Microsoft Teams.<\/p>\n The company has already partnered with Google, which uses Stipop\u2019s sticker library in Gboard, Android Messages and Tenor<\/a>, a GIF keyboard platform that Google bought in 2018. That partnership drove 600 million sticker views within the first month. A new partnership between Stipop and Coca-Cola on the near horizon will add Coke-branded stickers to its sticker library and the company is opening its doors to more brands<\/a> that understand the unique appeal of stickers in messaging apps.<\/p>\n Park says that people tend to compare stickers and gifs, two ways of wordlessly expressing emotion and social nuance, but stickers are a world unto themselves. Stickers exist in their own creative universe, with star artists, regional themes and original casts of characters that take on a life of their own among fans. \u201cSticker creators have their own profession,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n Visual artists can also find a lot of traction releasing sticker sets, even without sophisticated illustrations. And since they\u2019re all about meaning rather than refinement, non-designers and less skilled artists can craft hit stickers too.<\/p>\n \u201cStickers are great for them because it [is] so easy to go viral,\u201d Park said. The company has partnered with 8,000 sticker creators across 25 languages, letting those artists upload art and generate income based on how many times a sticker is shared.<\/p>\n Stickers command their own visual language around the world, and Park has observed interesting cultural differences in how people use them to communicate. In the West, stickers are often used in place of text, but in Asia, where they\u2019re used much more frequently, people usually send stickers to enhance rather than replace the meaning of text.<\/p>\n In East Asia, users tend to prefer simple black and white stickers, but in India and Saudi Arabia, bright, golden stickers top the trends. In South America, popular stickers take on a more pixelated, unique quality that resonates culturally there.<\/p>\n \u201cWith stickers, you fall in love with [the] characters you send\u2026 that becomes you,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n\n