Pixie Technology, maker of an app that uses augmented reality (AR) to help users find lost items, closed an $18.5 million funding round, stating it will use the cash to expand its ‘Location of Things’ platform and develop third-party partnerships.

It will also use the funds “to launch new advanced product capabilities and scale production to bring Pixie to even more customers”.

Pixie combines AR navigation with signaling technology. Users attach ‘Pixie Points’ tags to belongings such as keys, wallets and pets, giving them a “digital identity” which can then be tracked with a smartphone app.

Pixie Points communicate with each other, creating a digital map that can be viewed and managed with the app.

Pixie is investing in expanding its platform and ecosystem and has opened its software development kit to allow developers and third parties to create new apps, building its technology into other products, devices and services.

“The new funds will simultaneously allow us to enhance and expand our consumer proposition, while also developing our pioneering ‘Location of Things’ platform that leverages the power of mesh networks. We will soon be in a world where everything around us can be given a digital identity,” said Amir Bassan-Eskenazi, CEO and co-founder.

Pixie will be rolling out new functionality from Q3 onward. It is currently working on an enriched AR interface, providing users a detailed look at rooms and spaces that their possessions are in as well as the exact location of their missing items. Updated room scanning features will also be included.

It also wants to launch a phone locater, so users can find a “Pixified” phone with another mobile device; a “Digital Leash” feature which will notify users when they get out of range of a tagged item so that, for example, users don’t forget their wallet in a restaurant; and family sharing so that friends and family can keep an eye on each other’s valuables.

“Pixie has created a new category of product that gives location-aware digital presence to physical devices. Location is what has been missing in IoT,” said Santo Politi, co-founder of Spark Capital, which led the round and which in the past has supported Twitter, Oculus, Slack and Medium.

Other investors in the round include Cedar Fund, OurCrowd and private investors.