Participated · Series A · Aug 2015

Jibo makes a consumer "social robot" designed to serve as a family-facing smart assistant. The device is intended to handle reminders, order food, take photos and video, send email, connect with internet-of-things devices, and facilitate communication. Jibo began as an Indiegogo project that raised $3.7M and offers an SDK for third-party developers to build features and applications. A full retail-ready version was not yet complete at the time of the article—the prototype could communicate but was functionally limited—and both developer and consumer units were sold out. The company ships to more than 45 countries including the U.S., EU and China and planned to start shipping developer units this fall, with earliest Indiegogo backers receiving orders that winter and later pre-orders arriving in late spring 2016. Jibo was founded by MIT graduate Cynthia Breazeal and does not currently plan an enterprise version. Jibo produces a family-focused social robot that uses artificial intelligence to engage users and serve as a home engagement hub. The company launched last year with a major media push and a successful Indiegogo campaign, taking in roughly 4,800 orders. It also raised about $2.3M via crowdfunding with roughly 5,000 backers. With the new capital Jibo plans to fulfill Indiegogo orders, hire staff aggressively, develop new prototypes, and grow a developer community to build apps for the platform. Initial applications include video chat, a security feature in development, a reminder/list-maker and a storytelling app. Leadership is shifting: founder Cynthia Breazeal moves to chief scientist and Steve Chambers becomes CEO. Jibo is a chipper, 11-inch-tall social robot prototype designed for families, featuring cameras, voice recognition to distinguish individuals, and touch sensitivity. It connects to a cloud platform to store family photos and is designed as an open platform that supports third-party "skills," though its own code is closed. Planned features include telepresence video calls with tracking, handsfree photo and video capture with smile/pose recognition, individualized message and calendar reading, and a storytelling function that combines graphics and physical movement. The developer edition is priced from $599 and aimed to ship in September 2015; the consumer unit is expected to cost around $500 with a consumer release slated for December 2015 and a full public release in early 2016. The project is led by MIT professor and social robotics specialist Dr. Cynthia Breazeal. At the time of reporting, the campaign had raised $356,000+ on Indiegogo and had exceeded its original funding goal by more than 3.5x, while TechCrunch had requested further details about Jibo's privacy policy and data use.

Led · Series B · May 2009

Fuhu develops kid-focused hardware and software, with its nabi 2 Android tablet positioned as a child-friendly device featuring a specialized interface. The company has cultivated relationships with various content providers to deliver kids’ and educational content. Fuhu is based in Los Angeles and previously raised a Series B from Acer. Its current notable financing is a $5 million investment from KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund to support expansion. Fuhu plans to enter the Japanese market with KDDI’s backing, though product details and launch timing have not been disclosed. The article does not report revenue or user metrics. Fuhu designs, sells and supports the nabi tablet line, including the nabi 2 — a full-featured Android tablet made for kids. The nabi 2 runs Android 4.0, is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, and uses Fuhu’s proprietary Monarch OS combined with premier content partners. Product offerings emphasize education (state-standardized K–5 lessons with 2,500 lessons and 30,000 practice questions) and entertainment (Spinlets+ music and TV, HD games, ebooks), plus parental analytics (N-SITE) and chore/reward mechanics (nabi Coins, Treasure Box). The ecosystem also includes nabi Sync and nabi Cloud for syncing and storage, and the device ships with over $200 of preloaded content. The nabi 2 is sold at major retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and Amazon at a $199.99 price point. Fuhu is headquartered in El Segundo, California, with offices in Denver and San Jose, and says it will use new funding to expand its ecosystem, grow the company, and develop partnerships to increase global reach. FUHU builds embeddable virtual identity cards (urFooz) and rich-media widgets (including Spinlets) that let users create avatars, aggregate music/photos/videos/feeds, and syndicate profiles across social networks. urFooz profiles can link to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, FriendFeed, blogs and more, and users can purchase virtual clothing via a urFooz virtual mall. The Spinlets widget lets users embed music (with video, pictures and expanded functionality planned) and other rich media on social networks, sites and blogs. FUHU says urFooz currently has about 20,000 users and CEO Jim Mitchell projects the Acer integration could add 1–2 million users per month. The company has a 10-year contract with The Acer Group to distribute and preinstall FUHU products on Acer computers and smart mobile phones, with some pre-loaded Spinlets/urFooz mashups planned. Competitors in the space include Slide and RockYou.