Blerp

Founding and early development (2016–2018)

Blerp was founded in 2016 by Aaron Hsu and Kepler Sticka-Jones, two University of Utah computer science students who met at Lassonde Studios.^[3] Hsu's initial inspiration came from creating a soundboard mobile application featuring audio clips of actor Shia LaBeouf, which received over 100,000 downloads.^[4] The success of that application led Hsu to identify a gap in the market for a searchable database of short audio clips, similar to what Giphy and Tenor had built for GIFs.^[5]

Hsu and Sticka-Jones developed the company with support from the University of Utah's Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, participating in the institute's Get Seeded and Company Launch programs.^[6] In 2017, Blerp was one of four student startups selected for the Lassonde Institute's Get Seeded Rush to Revenue summer program, which provided mentoring, workspace at Lassonde Studios, and grants of up to $18,000.^[7]

The company initially launched as a mobile application and web application for searching and sharing short audio clips across messaging platforms, available on iOS, Android, iMessage, and web.^[3] Hsu has described the early company as bootstrapped, with initial development funded from personal savings and small competition winnings, earning nearly $10,000 from university business competitions before graduation.^[1]

In 2018, Blerp released a chatbot on Discord, which was added to over 100 servers and reached more than 100,000 users within three weeks of launch.^[8] The chatbot allowed Discord users to search and play audio clips in voice channels. The team at this time also included University of Utah computer science students Jaden Holladay, Greg Rosich, and JoCee Porter.^[8]

Pivot to live streaming (2019–2020)

Blerp gained significant traction after integrating with Twitch, the live streaming platform owned by Amazon. The company developed a Twitch extension that allowed viewers to trigger sound effects during live broadcasts using Bits (Twitch's virtual currency) or Channel Points.^[1] This pivot toward the live streaming market became the company's primary focus. By early 2021, Blerp's Twitch extension had been installed on over 150,000 channels and had gained over ten times the active users of Giphy's Twitch extension.^[9] The company also expanded its integrations to YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming.^[9]

Alexa Next Stage program (2020)

In June 2020, Blerp was selected as one of seven companies worldwide to participate in the inaugural Alexa Next Stage program, powered by Techstars and funded by the Amazon Alexa Fund.^[10] The other companies in the cohort hailed from Estonia, France, Israel, Italy, Mexico, and the United States.^[11] The program was an evolution of the former Alexa Accelerator, which had previously supported 27 startups over three cohorts, and was redesigned as a fully virtual accelerator for later-stage companies.^[12]

The eight-week virtual program provided access to over 100 mentors from Amazon and the Techstars network, workshops on voice design best practices, and collaboration opportunities with Amazon's Alexa team.^[12] The program included a $150,000 grant.^[1] The cohort culminated in a virtual Innovation Showcase on August 11, 2020.^[13]

Funding and growth (2020–present)

Blerp's early funding came from university competitions and small grants, including $15,000 from Campus Founders Fund and $15,000 from Forward Venture Capital in 2018.^[1] Following the Alexa Next Stage program, Blerp closed a seed funding round led by Kickstart, a Salt Lake City–based venture capital firm, with participation from the Alexa Fund, Konvoy Ventures, The Fund LA, VoicePunch, and Forward Venture Capital.^[14] As of March 2021, the company reported having raised over $1 million in total investment.^[1] According to PitchBook, the company has raised approximately $960,000 in total funding from 10 investors.^[15]

By March 2021, Blerp had grown from 100 active streaming creators and a few thousand sounds at its second funding round to over 100,000 installs and 30,000 active creators, with millions of sounds shared and played monthly.^[1] By 2022, the company had expanded to approximately 10 employees and continued working with Amazon on Alexa integrations, exploring applications for doorbells, TV screens, and home intercoms.^[4][1]

Sound alerts

Blerp's core product is a sound alert system for live streamers. The platform hosts a library of over one million user-created audio clips, categorized by theme and searchable by keyword.^[16] Viewers can browse and trigger these sounds during live broadcasts, with the audio playing on the streamer's broadcast in real time. Streamers can moderate the available sounds through blacklists, content rating filters, and custom pricing controls.^[17] The library includes sounds reviewed by Blerp staff for DMCA compliance.^[18]

Browser extensions

Blerp distributes its viewer-facing tools primarily through browser extensions for Google Chrome and Firefox.^[2][19] The company offers two main extensions: a Twitch-specific extension that integrates directly into the Twitch interface, and a cross-platform "Universal Extension" that works across Twitch, Kick, YouTube, TikTok, and other streaming platforms, functioning similarly to community extensions such as BetterTTV and 7TV.^[17]

Additional features

Blerp also offers AI-powered text-to-speech supporting over 50 languages, video alert sharing (supporting clips from platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts), customizable visual overlays, subscriber walk-on sounds (personalized audio that plays when a specific viewer enters a stream), a subathon timer, media sharing, and a channel points system for non-Twitch platforms.^[20]

Monetization model

The platform supports two virtual currencies for viewer-streamer transactions. On Twitch, viewers use Bits through the Blerp Twitch Extension, with streamers receiving 80% of Bits spent (per standard Twitch extension policy) and Blerp receiving 20%.^[18] Through the Universal Extension, viewers purchase "Beets" (Blerp's proprietary currency), from which Blerp retains a 16% transaction fee at the time of purchase, with 100% of Beets spent on a channel going directly to the streamer.^[18]