LITTLEBITS GETS BIGGER: LittleBits, a New York-based company that offers educational “maker” kits aimed at helping kids build and tinker with technology, has acquired DIY.org. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. DIY’s staff of 15 will remain in its San Francisco headquarters and become a part of littleBit’s staff of 100.
Founded in 2014, DIY.org offers an online community where kids can find and showcase do-it-yourself projects, and earn digital badges along the way. The company also operates JAM.com, a subscription service for an online library of maker projects and STEAM video content. (JAM.com is also now part of littleBits.) DIY had raised about $9.5 million in funding from investors that include Kleiner Perkins.
This marks the first acquisition for littleBits, which has raised more than $62 million in venture funding since the company started in 2011. The company claims it has sold more than 1 million kits in 70 countries and to more than 20,000 schools in a press release.
On the company’s blog, littleBits founder and CEO Ayah Bdeir wrote that the deal “marks the next step in our evolution from a hardware-focused company to a technology company that leverages hardware, content streaming, and an online community to reinvent the way kids learn and empower them to become tomorrow’s changemakers.”
