littleBits Lands $11M to Make Snappable Electronics for Young Makers

littlebitsMeet littleBits, Legos for the iPad generation. The New York-based hardware startup creates a library of snappable electronic modules that take the intimidation out of making electronic circuits. littleBits aims to make electrical engineers out of your children and won’t stop until every one of us can make our own phones or computers.

The company has just raised $11.1 million to expand on its current open source module library of 45 designs.

“While we use electronics every day, there’s been no real way to prototype our own devices. Yet, right now you can take a three-hour class and suddenly you’re 3D printing. We want to do that for electronics,” littleBits CEO Ayah Bdeir told VentureBeat.

At a time when 3D printers are making the replication of technology that much easier, Bdeir’s looks to help us better learn these systems so we can eventually understand and create our own pieces of electronics with little effort too.

While the littleBits product lineup looks like a bunch of toys, its use is no laughing matter as the technology could have great implications for educators.

Check out some of the cool littleBits community projects so far:

Electric Toothbrush


 

littleBits Box Monster

Need some company for example? Learn how to build a chatty monster box.

 

Hungry Pringles Man


 

Starry Night


 
littleBits hopes to turn people into makers, and this is just the beginning. Bdeir says, “This hardware revolution is only going to mean something if it reaches consumers — not just developers.” To date, littleBits has raised over $15 million. The company’s latest funding round was led by True Ventures and the Foundry Group with new investors including Two Sigma Ventures and Vegas Tech Fund, Khosla Ventures, Mena Ventures, Neoteny Labs, O’Reilly AlphaTech and Lerer Ventures.
 
What type of electronics would you like to start making yourself?

Daniel Zeevi

By Daniel Zeevi

Daniel is a social network architect, web developer, infographic designer, writer, speaker and founder of DashBurst. Full-time futurist and part-time content curator, always on the hunt for disruptive new technology, creative art and web humor.

1 comment

  1. OK, I want this setup…my kid would be entertained for hours just with the monster one. I love the stuff you find, Daniel

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