QR code technology, which exploded during the pandemic as businesses looked for hygienic alternatives to physical touchpoints, continues to grow in popularity, especially in industries like restaurants and outlet retail. According to according to Insider Intelligence, more than 99.5 million smartphone users will scan a QR code by 2025, up from 83.4 million in 2022. There is a potential downside – some argue that QR codes Reduce the need to hire employees to collect payments and serve customers – but it seems clear that the technology, for better or for worse, is not going anywhere.
That benefits startups Beacon stac, which partners with companies such as United Airlines, Amazon and Deloitte to create QR code experiences for end users. To show how rosy things are, Beaconstac announced today that it has closed a $25 million Series A funding round led by Telescope Partners with participation from Accel.
Co-founder and CEO Sharat Potharaju says the new capital will be used to expand the startup’s team and product R&D.
Image Credits: Beacon stac
“Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve experienced tremendous growth as our QR code technology provides businesses with an efficient, easy-to-use solution for creating contactless experiences,” Potharaju told businessroundups.org in an email interview. “We are seeing more companies continue to use this technology as it streamlines the customer experience. The pandemic has only reinforced the existing need to better connect the physical and digital worlds.”
Potharaju co-founded Beaconstac in 2019 along with Ravi Maddimsetty. Potharaju is an investment banker by trade and has held positions at Merrill Lynch and Fieldstone Private Capital Group. Maddimsetty, a software engineer, was an IT associate at Morgan Stanley and contributed to open source Linux projects, including the GNOME desktop environment.
With Beaconstac, Potharaju and Maddimsetty sought to ride the wave of QR code adoption by building a platform that allows businesses to create, manage and track QR codes across multiple physical touchpoints. Using Beaconstac, companies can customize aspects of branded QR codes, including the shape, captions, and background colors, to match their design languages.
Beaconstac also allows businesses to create QR codes that track engagement, such as a customer’s location at the time of a scan. While not every user is likely to feel comfortable, Potharaju says it helps companies get first-hand data at a time when more platforms (see Apple) are becoming averse to tracking. (Of course, whether you agree with Potharaju depends on which side of the privacy debate you fall on.)
“Beaconstac’s platform does not collect any personally identifiable information when a QR code is scanned – we comply with GDPR regulations around security and privacy,” said Potharaju. “Consumers can always request data deletion according to the rules of the GDPR.”
While Beaconstac competes with vendors like Flowcode and Bit.ly, the company claims to have more than 20,000 customers – a doubling from last year. Potharaju declined to share sales figures, but said Beaconstac – which has operations in the US and India – plans to double its 75-person workforce sometime this year.
“In 2019, my co-founder and I asked the question, ‘Our phones are great for getting us online, but why aren’t they better at connecting to the physical world?'” Potharaju said. “Beaconstac [is] helping companies … build digital cohorts based on interactions in the physical world.
