- Sphero, a leading robotics and educational STEAM company, announced it is acquiring electronic building block company littleBits
Sphero — a leading robotics and educational STEAM company — announced that it is acquiring electronic building block company littleBits. With the acquisition, the two companies are going to become the #1 STEAM and coding solution for every classroom, living room, and after-school program around the world.
Sphero and littleBits combined have over six million students and 65,000 teachers across 35,000 schools globally. And they have sold more than $500 million in Sphero robots and littleBits kits.
And with this acquisition, Sphero becomes the largest player in its market by offering a comprehensive offering of hardware, software, curriculum, and training — which is positioned to shape the $150 billion education technology industry.
And with the addition of the littleBits line, Sphere will have over 140 patents in robotics, electronics, software, and the Internet of Things. Plus teachers will have access to hundreds of thousands of community-generated inventions and activities, and over a thousand lessons tied to NGSS, CSTA and Common Core standards. Sphero and littleBits are also also planning to rally their enthusiastic and loyal networks of distinguished educators around the world that they’ve cultivated through their ambassador programs with over 67 Sphero Heroes and 50 littleBits Bitstar Educators.
“Sphero and littleBits are on a mission to make hands-on learning fun and memorable,” said Sphero CEO Paul Berberian. “Together, we’re able to make an even greater impact by delivering the best possible solution — whether it is programming a robot to solve a maze or building an electronic music synthesizer. There are infinite learning possibilities — and they’re all fun.”
With this deal, Sphero is planning to accelerate international growth and acquire other products and companies to further expand its portfolio of STEAM products and tools. Going forward, the company will have offices in Boulder, New York, and Hong Kong with Paul Berberian as CEO. And Ayah Bdeir will be moving on from littleBits to pursue her next adventure.
“When I studied engineering, it was top-down, test-based,” added Bdeir. “I hated it and wanted to quit every semester. Then I got exposed to the pedagogy of learning through play and my life changed; no one could peel me away from learning, inventing, creating. Together, littleBits and Sphero are now bringing this experience to kids everywhere.”
