Details

Last Funding Type

Grant

Last Funding Money Raised

$500K

Industries

Gaming,Hardware,Robotics,Software

Founded date

Jan 1, 2009

Number Of Employee

11 - 50

Operating Status

Active

Sifteo, Inc. is a venture-backed startup based in San Francisco, California. Sifteo makes Sifteo cubes, a tactile interactive game system for hands-on fun and Intelligent Play, and a growing number of games exclusive to its platform. Sifteo is also a publisher of games for its platform, and runs regular game jams using its freely-available SDK for developers around the country.

Sifteo cubes is a next generation game system consisting of physical blocks with full-color graphics that sense each other and their motion. The system offers a new type of interface that allows computer interactions to be more direct and physical in nature: a hands-on computer the size and shape of a building block. Gesture-detection technology makes interactive play with Sifteo cubes natural and allows players to shake, flip, tilt, press, and neighbor Sifteo cubes to control the action.

Sifteo began as a collaboration between co-founders Dave Merrill and Jeevan Kalanithi at the MIT Media Lab. They wanted to re-think human-computer interaction by designing new, physical interfaces. One afternoon they sat around a table in the lab’s kitchen and imagined sorting through a pile of digital data as if it were a pile of LEGOs. The idea for Sifteo cubes was born.

Several generations of prototypes later, Dave was invited to share their early work by giving a presentation on the main stage at the TED conference in 2009 - and the talk went viral. This public enthusiasm galvanized the pair to found Sifteo Inc., and four months later Dave and Jeevan were at work in San Francisco building a company.

Sifteo games embody Intelligent Play, combining classic tactile play patterns and social aspects of activities like chess and building blocks with the richness of interactive game technology. The Sifteo game library includes challenging games for adults, fun learning puzzles for kids, and games families can play together.