From the fund established by Spin Master, minority investments were made in both Candy Crush Saga developer Nørdlight and the online tutoring service Hoot Reading. Spin Master Ventures is seeking startups to make minority investments in early-stage companies and emerging businesses that need support, starting with the North American and European markets.
Ronnen Harary, co-founder, and chairman of the board of Spin Master, made the following statement about the vision of the established fund:
“The pace of innovation within the toys, entertainment and digital games industries is accelerating rapidly and by investing with a long-term view in leading ventures with promising ideas, we can increase our access to potentially game-changing thinking and concepts. Spin Master Ventures will establish us as the partner of choice for entrepreneurs looking for capital to start and grow a business in the kids’ space and will complement our acquisition strategy as well as bolster our product development pipeline.”
Focusing on helping children learn to read, the company said it will use the investment to expand its reach into new markets, support product development, and support its continued growth. Maya Kotecha, co-founder, and CEO of Hoot Reading, one of the companies that received investment in this regard, said:
“Parents are often shocked to learn that more than two thirds of kids are reading below grade level by the fourth grade – and the pandemic significantly exacerbated this issue. Our mission at Hoot Reading is to help as many kids as possible become not only proficient, but excellent readers. With this funding in place, we can expand our team and scale our platform to meet the growing demand for our service.”
Carly Shuler, co-founder, and co-CEO of Hoot Reading said the company can leverage Spin Master’s experience in creating innovative toys, entertainment series and digital games to help diversify and expand its approach to teaching reading online:
“Our mission at Hoot Reading is to help as many kids as possible become not only proficient, but excellent readers. With this funding in place, we can expand our team and scale our platform to meet the growing demand for our service.”
Founded in 1994, Spin Master owns multimedia studios such as Paw Patrol, Bakugan, and children’s app developer Toca Boca. With this vision, it aims to support useful initiatives in the game and toy industry that are short of resources.
