Toybox Labs co-founders Ben Baltes and Jenn Chin are the proud inventors of a 3D printer for kids, allowing children to create virtually any toy they can think of. They cite respective childhoods full of building and creating as inspiration. Toybox Labs came to Rainfactory already well-underway with their product development. Rainfactory helped them hone their marketing message, and position the 3D Printer such that it stood out among the slew of 3D Printers vying for market share in 2017.
Rainfactory executed their Indiegogo campaign to phenomenal results. After exceeding a crowdfunding goal by 283%, Ben and Jenn made the trek to ABC to see how their product would fare with the Sharks.
This being the first product of its kind, and the Sharks being aware of trends across multiple industries, Toybox intrigued the Sharks from the start. Billionaire Mark Cuban was impressed, but passed on the opportunity. Canadian businessman Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary had more faith, and ultimately invested $150 thousand in exchange for 13% equity in the company.
Before Ben and Jenn went on Shark Tank, we made it rain for them, crowdfunding over $100 thousand long before O’Leary would open his checkbook. And with nearly 500 backers, the success would later boost credibility with the Sharks, as it demonstrated undeniable demand for a product not yet commercially available.
If you have a new product you think we’d be excited about, we want to hear from you. Start here to make it rain.