St. Louis 'Shark Tank' startup Flipstik raises $1.2M to expand its product line

After expanding its footprint into retail stores and raising a fresh round of funding, St. Louis-based phone accessory startup Flipstik plans to expand its roster of products in the coming year.

The expansion comes after Flipstik earlier this month closed a $1.15 million pre-seed funding round, raising capital from investors that include Build-A-Bear Workshop founder and former CEO Maxine Clark.

Flipstik, founded in 2017, gained prominence in November 2020 after appearing on ABC reality television show “Shark Tank.” It has developed a patented, reusable adhesive that attaches to a phone’s cover and can serve as a kickstand as well as be used to stick a phone to a flat surface. The startup’s product, called the Flipstik, allows users to complete tasks such as watching videos, taking selfies and using GPS hands-free.

Flipstik founder and CEO Akeem Shannon said his company’s growth blueprint stems from success it had this year selling its product in retail stores. In April, it started selling Flipstiks at about 330 locations of retail giant Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) and in October expanded its reach to all of Target’s U.S. locations. Flipstik currently sells its products in 3,000 retail locations, Shannon said. Other retailers carrying the product include AT&T, Metro By T-Mobile and Pilot Flying J.

Shannon said Flipstik’s sales are up around 500% from last year and that its “organic” sales have jumped 950%. He did not disclose specific sales figures. Flipstik measures its organic sales growth year over year by excluding sales from the prior year that occurred within 72 hours of a re-airing of its “Shark Tank” episodes.

“In 2020 and 2021, we relied heavily on (re-airings). Without those Shark Tank airings, we wouldn’t have shown really great numbers at all. But this year, with zero 'Shark Tank' airings, we’ve been able to grow significantly and that shows this is not just big on ABC,” Shannon said.

With its push into retail, Shannon said Flipstik has placed an emphasis on strengthening its marketing capabilities to drive sales. He said that includes hiring a full-time marketing director, creating partnerships with social media influencers and enhancing its presence on social media. He said the combination of its marketing capabilities and sales growth made now the right time to expand its product line.

“Now we can not just come out with a product, but we can come out with a product, have it in multiple retailers, have the marketing capability to push the product out there and get real momentum behind new products,” Shannon said.

In January, Flipstik plans to launch new products including:

Flipstik partnered with St. Louis-based Metaphase Design Group, led by CEO Bryce Rutter, to create its new products.

Flipstik will debut its products next month on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter before selling them in retail stores. Shannon said Kickstarter provides the opportunity to generate user interest and feedback before selling the products to a wider audience.

“It is the best way to get a lot of pre-orders up front and the other great thing about Kickstarter is it’s a robust community that gives you a lot of feedback,” he said.

Based at Spark Coworking in Ballpark Village, Flipstik has a team of five full-time employees and about 10 part-time employees and contractors. In addition to its recent funding, Flipstik has been awarded grants from local nonprofit Arch Grants and the University of Missouri-St. Louis' Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accelerator.

Investors in Flipstik's $1.15 million funding round include: