New York, NY – 23 September, 2024 – Shelf connects to your favorite services to help you keep track of what you’re consuming and create a personalized “storefront” for your media habits. Through Shelf, you can keep a log of what you’ve been consuming over time and connect with others based on the movies, shows, books, games, and music they consume.
“If you observe internet culture at large, we’re shifting away from posting selfies to posting ‘Shelfies’: ‘here’s what I’m reading or watching’, screenshots of the reviews of my movies and so on. It’s essentially going deeper, trying to understand what someone’s into… that’s what Shelf is all about.” – Jad Esber, CEO of koodos labs, the company behind Shelf.
From the outset, koodos has focused on how we might invert the internet’s personal data model and give individuals more agency and control over their existence online. The company has built many apps that let us privately collect and manage our own data, and interfaces that help us interact with that data and get insights – but none of them worked until Shelf emerged.
How does it work?
The Shelf app, available on iOS and soon on Android, lets you connect various accounts, including Apple Music, Goodreads, Netflix, Spotify, and Steam—soon many more—and then builds a customizable “Shelf” webpage that updates automatically based on your consumption progress. You can also search for content to add or drop a link from any other service to your virtual shelf.
To power Shelf, koodos developed DataMover, which allows users to share their personal data from any application to any other application and store it in their own personal data store. This enables individuals to control access to their data and use it to power new applications. Similar to Plaid, but for user data, DataMover has already been integrated into multiple apps besides Shelf.
Here’s how it works for Shelf:
Private experience in testing
In addition to letting users create public storefronts, Shelf has begun testing a private experience for users who prefer to track their own media consumption without sharing it.
“Everyone has a bookshelf at home in their living room or bedroom. So, why can’t everyone have a Shelf? Our physical shelves, from bookshelves to closet shelves, function as utilities—they’re where we store our stuff, not just for display. Similarly, we imagine Shelf becoming an important utility for internet users—a place for us to store our stuff in a way that gives us full agency and control over who has access to our data,” Esber said.
Launched publicly this summer after a period of beta testing, users have added half a billion items to their Shelves. The number of Shelves is growing by 40% month-to-month, with users visiting their Shelf an average of five times a week to check in on or update their digital shelves or keep up with others’ shelves.
Since its founding, koodos has raised $7 million from top-tier investors including First Round Capital, M13, Blockchain Capital, IDEO and others, as well as the founders of companies like Zynga and VSCO, and the people behind artists like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Lorde and Logic.
About koodos labs
koodos labs is a New York-based technology company building and enabling agentic cultural products. You can find out more about the company on www.koodos.com
Media ContactCompany Name: koodosContact Person: Jad EsberEmail: Send EmailAddress:515 Greenwich Street 504City: New YorkState: NYCountry: United StatesWebsite: www.koodos.com
