Flintobox

Last updated

Flintobox
IndustryEducation Toys
FoundedSeptember 2013
FoundersArunprasad Durairaj, Vijaybabu Gandhi, Shreenidhi Srirangam
Headquarters
Chennai
,
India
Area served
India
ProductsActivity Boxes for Children
ServicesE-commerce Subscription Boxes
Website flintobox.com

Flintobox is an India-based company that produces STEAM-based educational activity boxes for children. Based on a new theme every month, Flintobox designs resources for Early Child Development. The company follows a subscription operational model and delivers the boxes straight to the child's doorstep.

Contents

History

Flintobox was founded by Arunprasad Durairaj, [1] Vijaybabu Gandhi, and Shreenidhi Srirangam. They are also the co-founders of Flintoclass. [2] As young parents, they realised the growing trend of screen addiction in children [3] and the urgent requirement for activities to get their children engaged with. The idea of Flintobox was then born. After a few test runs, [4] they invested their savings of close to Rs. 10 lakh to establish the business in September 2013.

In October 2014, they raised US$300,000 [5] from leading angels GSF Global, Globevestor (USA), [6] AECAL (Germany), and Mauj Mobile. Mauj Mobile already owns three app platforms, namely, AppyStore, Gamesbond and Mobango. [7] The investment primarily went into scaling marketing, operations, and product development capabilities. The company began operations with designing products for 4-8 year olds and is currently catering to 2-12 year olds.

The third and fourth round of funding was for Rs.2cr in 2015 and Rs.6.2cr in 2016 respectively, and was led by Ashwin Chadha - a leading Angel Investor, and Globevestor with participation from existing investors. In 2017, Series-A funding was done by Lightbox and they invested Rs.45cr along with existing investors. InnoVen Capital, Asia's leading venture debt and specialty lending firm, made a debt investment of INR 60 million in 2018. In 2020, Pre-Series B funding of $7.2 million, was led by Lightbox Ventures.

The name Flintobox originates from flint, a sedimentary rock, which can generate sparks when struck against steel. [6]

Membership

Flintobox offers three subscription plans, which customers can upgrade or cancel at any point of time. [8] There are 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month subscriptions available. The company looks at teaching children several age-appropriate concepts and build 16 developmental skills over the period of their subscription. Currently, Flintobox has more than 10 lakh subscribers.

Subscribers of Flintobox also receive a digital feed of parenting tips, engaging activity ideas and downloadable worksheets to do with children through the Free Flintobox App. [9]

Product

Flintobox started off in 2013 with products for 4-8 year olds. Each box contains 3-4 play based activities [10] that bring about overall development of the child. It is educational and is designed by child development experts to make learning more engaging and healthy for kids. Each month has a new theme based on which all the activities are designed. [11] Flintobox has a tie-up with International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad to design developmental games that can help with a child's motor skills, creative thought process, and overall psychological development. [12]

Flintobox targets at getting four main activities inside every box that makes a child create, explore, play, read, and sometimes a bonus activity is included. [13]

In December 2015, Flintobox announced that it was expanding its product line to include products for children between the ages of 2-3 and 3–4. The new products have 3-5 activities inside each box. The boxes have toys themed around topics like wildlife, vegetables, coloring, outer space, numbers, and others - all aimed at 16 developmental needs in children. [14] At the end of 2016, Flintobox began producing activity kits [15] for 8-12 year olds that deals with everyday science concepts and experiments.

At present, Flintoboxes are shipped across India. The concepts are ideated and designed in-house, but manufacturing is generally done by suppliers. Bengaluru and Chennai contribute to over 30 percent of Flintobox's revenue. [16]

Promotion

Flintobox operates on a complete ecommerce model. There are no offline stores. Orders and purchases are made through the company's website and app.

Awards and recognition

Flintobox was awarded the "Coolest Startup of 2014" by Business Today, the "Best Education Startup of 2014" by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the Wharton India Startup Competition 2015 [17] and also the best subscription boxes of 2014 by Kidstoppress. [18] In 2017, it won the Best Start-Up award by TiECON Chennai. [19] In 2018, it bagged three awards including Innovative Learning Solution by Global Edfest, Academics' Choice 'Brain Toy' Award, as well as Academics' Choice 'Mind Spring' award.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

KidZui was a web browser designed for children developed by KidZui, Inc. The KidZui browser used a Zooming User Interface paradigm to make browsing easier for children. Search results appeared as scaled-down images of websites, videos, and pictures that children click on to zoom in and see the content. Children can also browse by category without typing search terms. The KidZui browser did not access the open Internet. KidZui uses teachers and parents to screen content and maintains a database of approved URLs. The KidZui browser could only access URLs in the approved database. Children built avatars called Zuis to represent themselves online. They earned points for web browsing and used points to gain levels and buy clothes and accessories for their Zuis. Children could share KidZui content with friends online. To add a friend online, children needed to know the friends Zui name. There was no online directory of Zui names, so children needed to get their friends Zui names offline in order to add them. Friends also needed to be approved by parents before they become available in the browser. KidZui also tracked children's Internet usage and sends reports to their parents on what their children looked at online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BHUMI</span> Indian non-profit organisation

Bhumi is one of India's largest independent youth volunteer non-profit organisations. Bhumi as a platform enables over 30,000 volunteers in more than 12 cities across India for causes like education, environment, animals, community welfare etc. Bhumi helps to educate over 25,000 children across India as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoho Corporation</span> Indian multinational technology company

Zoho Corporation is an Indian multinational technology company that makes computer software and web-based business tools. It is best known for the online office suite offering Zoho Office Suite. The company was founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas and has a presence in seven locations with global headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and corporate headquarters outside of Austin in Del Valle, Texas. Radha Vembu, Sridhar Vembu's sister, owns a majority stake in the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Software industry in Chennai</span> Third largest software exporter in India

Chennai is the third largest software exporter in India, next only to Bangalore and Hyderabad. India's largest IT park is housed at Chennai. Software exports from Tamil Nadu during 2017–2018 rose 8.8% per cent to touch 1,11,179 crore, involving a workforce of 780,000, and the city is the hub for deep tech startup companies. Many software and software services companies have development centres in Chennai, which contributed 14 percent of India's total software exports of ₹ 14,42,140 lakh during 2006–07, making it the third largest Indian city software exporter following Bangalore, Hyderabad and the city is the home for 7 top rated IT companies out of 15 in India. The Tidel Park in Chennai was billed as Asia's largest IT park when it was built. Major software companies have their offices set up here, with some of them making Chennai their largest base. Chennai is the largest hub for e-publishing, as there are 67 e-publishing units registered with the STPI and many Rs.8300-Cr data centers, digital hubs are in the process of development. A major reason for the growth of the Software industry are the top engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu, of which Chennai is a major contributor, have been a major recruiting hub for the IT firms. According to estimates, these engineering colleges and universities consistently generate about 50 per cent of the human resource requirements for the IT and ITES industry was being sourced from the state, particularly from Chennai. The total employment in the Tamil Nadu’s technology sector crossed the one million mark in the quarter ended June 2022.

Kidaptive is a Silicon Valley–based developer of educational technology. Kidaptive's core product is an adaptive-learning platform, which powers a variety of learning domains including two Kidaptive-created apps for early learning. Kidaptive was founded by P.J. Gunsagar and Dylan Arena. The creative director for Kidaptive's Leo's Pad series is Dan Danko, who has worked on numerous children's television shows such as Rugrats and Fresh Beat Band.

Sanjay Parthasarathy is a former Microsoft executive and technology expert. He is currently the CEO of Indix, a technology company that provides a comprehensive product intelligence platform and a product database which aims to help websites and apps become product-aware.

Housing.com is a Mumbai-based real estate search portal which allows customers to search for housing based on geography, number of rooms, and various other filters. The company has 6,000 brokers and serves 40 cities in India including Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Delhi.

APUS Group, founded in June 2014 by Tao Li, is a Chinese technology company specializing in Android development and information services. The company's main product is APUS User System, which have drawn over 1 billion users globally by 2016, along with other APUS series products, covering more than 200 countries in six continents. According to Tao Li, CEO of APUS, 90 percent of its users are from countries beyond China. It is one of the world's top 10 developers in mobile applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FriendsLearn</span>

FriendsLearn is a privately held life science research and biotechnology mHealth company, with offices in San Francisco California and Chennai. The company was founded in 2011 and develops mobile health technologies, best known as the producer and developer of fooya!. FriendsLearn is a pioneer of Digital Vaccines, which Carnegie Mellon University featured as one of the top breakthroughs in technology as part of the annual "Year in Review" publication. The company is known for first in class therapeutic candidates in the field of neuromodulation and neurocognitive training through the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality technology, neuropsychology based behavior design, gamification and learnified entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CaratLane</span> Indian jewelry retailer headquartered in Chennai

CaratLane is an Indian jewellery brand under Titan Company, headquartered in Chennai, India.

KidZania Mumbai is a global indoor theme park, located in R-City Mall, Ghatkopar, Mumbai, India. It is a family entertainment centre for children in the age group of 4 to 16 to enhance their social and cognitive skills. Opened in August 2013, KidZania Mumbai is India's first, and the world's 14th KidZania theme park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faasos</span> Indian "food on demand" service

Faasos is an Indian "food on demand" service that was incorporated in 2004. It is one of the brands owned by the online restaurant company, Rebel Foods.

Dinesh Agarwal is an Indian entrepreneur, founder and CEO of IndiaMART, an online B2B marketplace in India.

Madan Padaki is an Indian entrepreneur and business executive. He is the co-founder and director of Sylvant Advisors, in the field of education management; CEO and MD of Head Held High Services, a social enterprise for rural youth, and former co-founder of MeritTrac Services, a skill assessment and testing company. Padaki holds an undergraduate degree in engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore and an MBA from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research. In 2011, he was conferred The Young Education Leader Award by EDGE Forum – a forum of leading educationists and educational institutions in India.

AppyStore is a comprehensive learning videos and games app for kids up to the age of 8 years. The platform developed by Mauj Mobile, a mobile value-added services (VAS) provider curates content to help in child development by leveraging technology. Mauj is funded by Sequoia Capital, Westbridge Capital and Intel Capital.

MyChild App is an Android app that helps parents screen developmental disorders in their children between the age of 1 and 24 months. The app contains information for parents about the different stages of a child's development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whatfix</span> Digital adoption platform in India

Whatfix is an Indian SaaS-based digital adoption platform that provides in-app guidance, training, and performance support for web applications and software products. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, United States and Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

Byju's is an Indian multinational educational technology company, headquartered in Bengaluru. It was founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. As of October 2024, various media outlets reported that Byju's valuation has now plummeted to zero, down from its peak valuation of $22 billion in 2022. In April 2023, the company claimed it had over 150 million registered students.

Karan Bhagat is an Indian entrepreneur and investor, who is the founder, CEO and MD of IIFL Wealth & Asset Management, an Indian wealth management firm. He has been listed in fortuneindia.com's 40 Under 40 list in 2016 and 2017. He was also a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovevery</span> American toy company

Lovevery is an American company producing play-kit subscription boxes for children.

References

  1. ↑ "Indian Education Show 2015". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "This Chennai-based start-up is trying to reform pre-school experience". www.businesstoday.in. 11 April 2019.
  3. ↑ "Woo kids away from the idiot box". Bangalore Mirror.
  4. ↑ Sangeetha Kandavel (25 May 2015). "Flintobox: Game for something new?". The Hindu.
  5. ↑ "Flintobox: Building engaging products for children that aid their holistic development". timesofindia-economictimes. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Educational firm Flinto raises $300,000". timesofindia-economictimes. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Mauj Mobile to raise $30-50 million for appstore play". The Hindu Business Line. 24 April 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "Chennai start-up looks to tap PEs for funds". Business Line. 6 May 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "Flintobox app comes to Google Play store". The Times of India.
  10. ↑ "Why FlintoBox "The Magical Monthly Discovery Kit" Might Help You and Your Kids". 16 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  11. ↑ Samiksha Jain (26 August 2015). "Flintobox: A box full of toys to set your kids' imagination soaring". Entrepreneur.
  12. ↑ "Out of the box". Business Standard. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  13. ↑ "Get children hooked to something worthy | The Golden Sparrow". thegoldensparrow.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015.
  14. ↑ Anusha Parthasarathy (24 June 2013). "The Flinto adventure". The Hindu.
  15. ↑ "Flintobox Review: Is It Really Useful For Kids Learning?". 1 October 2017.
  16. ↑ "Business News Today: Read Latest Business news, India Business News Live, Share Market & Economy News". The Economic Times.
  17. ↑ Koshy, Rohit (9 March 2015). "Out-of-the-box Learning". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  18. ↑ Zaveri, Mansi (10 January 2014). "Kidsstoppress Awards 2013 - Reviews of kids products & services in India". kidsstoppress.com.
  19. ↑ "Entrepreneurs, new and old, recognised at TiECON Chennai". The Hindu BusinessLine. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.