Trendy Baby-Toy Maker Lovevery Gets $800 Million Valuation

 

Lovevery raised $100 million in its latest funding round, valuing the trendy subscription toy company at more than $800 million and setting it up for an initial public offering in the next two years.

The Series C funding round was led by venture firm TCG, with additional money from existing investors Reach Capital, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Google Ventures and SoGal Ventures.

Lovevery subscribers receive boxes of toys every two or three months on average, along with a parent packet that describes the toys, the developmental milestones to watch for at the child’s age, and other suggested activities caregivers can do with their children. It boasts more than 220,000 active subscribers, and in the last 12 months it shipped more than one million play kits, the company says. This week, the company is launching the Lovevery App, a mobile platform with developmental tips and question-and-answer sessions with experts.

“We knew we could do more for parents,” said Jessica Rolph, one of Lovevery’s co-founders, adding that it is hard for parents to know what type of toy to use when.

The Montessori-inspired toy manufacturer was launched by Ms. Rolph and Roderick Morris in 2017. Ms. Rolph has experience in the baby startup space—she is a co-founder of organic baby-food company Happy Family, which was acquired by Danone SA in 2013. A parent herself, she said she was inspired to launch Lovevery after reading a doctoral dissertation on neurological development in babies. Ms. Rolph started making her own toys and with Mr. Morris, a longtime friend, dreamed up an early-learning program for children and their parents.

The company is riding the trend of Montessori education, which emphasizes hands-on independent learning. There is a “Montessori Mafia” of successful entrepreneurs who say they were raised on this philosophy, including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who has pledged $2 billion in part to help fund Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities.

Both Lovevery co-founders agree that to keep growing their business, they need more investors and capital—and the best way to do that is through an IPO, which they are working toward being ready for in the next two years.

“To realize the full potential of this business, it needs to be a public company,” said Mr. Morris.For more information visit https://stockxpo.com/trendy-baby-toy-maker-lovevery-gets-800-million-valuation/