Stipops' library of character-driven expressions and colorful stickers has more than 270,000.
Although the company provides keyboard and social app stickers via ad-supported mobile applications on iOS and Android, it has recently shifted its focus to providing stickers for developers, creators, and other online businesses.
Tony Park, co-founder of Stipop, told TechCrunch that we were able gather so many artists because our app started as a sticker collection app. They took the lessons they had learned while running their own app for consumers, namely that licensing hundreds of thousands stickers from artists all over the globe is difficult work. The team then adapted their business to solve this problem for others.
Stipop was the very first Korean company to participate in Yellow, Snapchat's exclusive accelerator. It is also part the Y Combinators Summer 2021 cohort.
The Stipops sticker database is available through an SDK or an API. This allows developers to integrate the searchable library into existing software. There are more than 200 companies already using the company's vast sticker library. This allows for an easy, one-day solution to a complicated process that would otherwise require a lot of work. Stipop recently launched a website that allows developers to integrate their SDK and API with quick installations.
Park stated that they can add just one line of code to their product, and then have a customized sticker feature so users can spice up their chats.
Park points out that stickers promote engagement, and for social media software, engagement equals growth. Stickers can be used to communicate with characters in chat. However, they are also found in other places, such as on dating apps, e-commerce, and ridesharing apps. Stipop is even responsible for the sticker search within Microsoft Teams, a collaboration software.
Google has already partnered the company with Stipops, which uses Stipops stickers library in Gboard and Android Messages. Tenor is a GIF keyboard platform Google purchased in 2018. The partnership generated 600 million sticker views in the first month. Stipop and Coca-Cola will soon form a new partnership. The company will also add Coke-branded stickers into its sticker library.
Park states that people often compare stickers and animated gifs. While they are two different ways of communicating emotion and social nuance, stickers are an entirely new world. Stickers are a part of their own creative universe. There are stars, regional themes, and original characters that give stickers a life. Park stated that sticker creators are their own professionals.
Visual artists can find a lot traction by using stickers to release traction, even if they don't have sophisticated illustrations. They are more about meaning than refinement so even non-designers can create hit stickers.
Park stated that stickers are great because they can easily go viral. Park said that the company has partnered up with over 8,000 sticker artists in 25 languages to help them monetize and generate income based upon how often a sticker gets shared.
Park observed cultural differences in the way people use stickers to communicate around the globe. Stickers are commonly used to replace text in the West. However, in Asia stickers are used more often than text.
Users in East Asia prefer black and white stickers. However, Indian and Saudi Arabia are embracing brighter, more colorful stickers. Popular stickers in South America take on a unique, pixelated quality that resonates culturally.
Park stated that stickers can make you fall in love [with] the characters you send.
