D2C Startup Skillmatics Bags $16 Mn, To Expand To Japan, France, Other Countries

D2C startup Skillmatics, which develops educational games and learning resources, has raised $16 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Brussels-based Sofina, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Jalaj Dani Family Office. 

The funds will be used to strengthen Skillmatics’ presence in the US, expand its product offerings, and categories to new age groups, scale up its presence in new international markets and make strategic acquisitions in adjacent categories, it said in a release. 

The startup said it plans to expand to the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Australia. 

With the latest fundraise, Skillmatics has raised about $24 Mn in total till date, including a $6 Mn Series A round led by Sequoia Capital India in 2021 and $1.8 Mn Seed funding round in 2019 led by Sequoia India’s Surge program.

Founded in 2017 by Dhvanil Sheth and Devanshi Kejriwal, Skillmatics develops products that focus on reading, logical reasoning, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and social-emotional skills in children through games.

Its products and games, it claims, inculcate core skills in maths, language, science and logic through gamification and interactivity.

The startup has launched a number of product lines including Guess in 10, Write & Wipe Activity Mats and Found It, it said.

Skillmatics sells its products globally via online marketplaces, its website and offline retailers like Walmart, Target and Hamleys. It has garnered more than 100,000 reviews on Amazon from customers globally, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5, the startup claimed.

 The startup is currently present across 15 countries and has sold more than 5 Mn products since its launch. 

Skillmatics competes with startups like Bengaluru-based toy brand Shumee Toys that raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Fluid Ventures in 2021, Skola Toys that makes toys to help children learn through play, trial and error methods, Chennai-based Ariro that operates on dual models of B2B and B2C, among others.  

The toy manufacturers in India are mostly located in Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and clusters across central states. The sector is fragmented with 90% of the market being unorganised and 4,000 toy industry units from the MSME sector. 

The toys industry in India has the potential to grow to $2-3 Bn by 2024. However, the Indian toy industry is only 0.5% of the global industry size, according to Invest India. 

The domestic toys demand is forecasted to grow at 10-15% against the global average of 5% by 2024, according to Invest India. 

Another report by FICCI-KPMG estimated the Indian toys market to be worth $1 Bn in 2021 and said it has the potential to double itself to $2 Bn by 2025. It said India should target a 2% share of global exports by 2025 as there is high growth potential for India in exports of plastic toys and board games in the US, EU and Middle East among other markets. 

Toys categories such as dolls, soft toys, baby and infant and pre-school are highly labour intensive with potential for manufacturing capabilities in India and easy to penetrate the export market, except for items that require decorations and value additions where the productivity levels are significantly lower (30-40%) than China, the report said.

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