Who we are

Kovio, a privately held Silicon Valley company with origins in the world renowned MIT Media Lab, designs, develops, and manufactures printed silicon products for Near Field Communication (NFC) and Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) markets, including Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and RF Barcodes.  By combining the power and functionality of high-performance silicon inks and low cost graphics printing technology, Kovio enables its customers and partners to deploy innovative products and solutions in the areas of mobile marketing and advertising, brand authentication, retail operations, and ticketing.

Based on breakthroughs in nanotechnology and molecular synthesis, Kovio has developed high-performance silicon, dopant, metal, and insulator inks that are the electronic equivalents of color inks in graphics printing.  By combining these proprietary functional inks with printing technologies, Kovio manufactures low-power, high-performance semiconductor devices and integrated circuits over thin, flexible, lightweight, and large area substrates, at a fraction of the cost of conventional silicon technology and with a reduced environmental impact.  Kovio has leveraged this revolutionary platform to develop low-cost RF Barcodes and other products that are compatible with existing and emerging standards in NFC markets.

By combining compatibility with standards-based ecosystems and breakthroughs in costs and service model, Kovio products open completely new vectors in the emerging NFC market and expand the potential scope of applications in traditional RFID-based ticketing and Electronic Article Surveillance markets.  NFC is poised to become the most significant consumer implementation of RFID as market leaders – carriers, handset manufacturers, and service providers – are supporting its adoption.  Kovio’s breakthrough RF Barcode product opens a new vector for NFC in direct brand-to-consumer communication because RF Barcode products can be embedded in literally trillions of physical goods to enable consumers to interact with them, anywhere and anytime.

Direct consumer interaction with everyday branded products could fundamentally change consumer marketing with contextual, permission-based, personalized, and real-time customizable experiences both in-store and at the point of use. Kovio’s RF Barcode products directly enable the use of NFC for location-based marketing, gaming, access to content, social networking, and healthcare.  In addition, through the streamlined integration of printed sensors, Kovio technology can be extended and customized to produce smart products that enhance consumer experiences at point of use and smart tags that can also report on the world around them.

Kovio is backed by leading venture capitalists and strategic investors, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Duff Ackerman and Goodrich, Tyco Retail Solutions, Harris and Harris Group, Flagship Venture Partners, Mitsui Ventures, Panasonic Venture Group, Pangaea Ventures, and Toppan Forms.