Magic Crate raises pre series A funding led by Fireside Ventures

Bangalore-based Magic Crate, an early childhood learning brand on Wednesday announced raising an undisclosed amount in its third round of institutional funding led by Fireside Ventures.

The company earlier raised funding led by Mohandas Pai backed Aarin Capital and 3One4 Capital. The latter also participated in the current round.

Magic Crate was started in 2015 by IIT-IIM alumnus Viswanathan Ramakrishnan and ex-McKinsey consultant Karthik Lakshman. The start-up provides an inquiry and play-based program for early childhood learning at home.

"Research shows that about 80% of critical brain development happens before the child turns 8. This has a direct correlation with what they are exposed to, during those years. Also, in this age group, they have a phenomenal amount of free time and it becomes a big challenge to engage them at home. Magic Crate is solving this pain point for millions of busy, but well-intentioned parents," said co-founder and CEO, Magic Crate, Viswanathan Ramakrishnan.

The company offers a subscription-based service that produces and delivers hands-on activities for kids aged 1.5-13 years. The activities are designed by a team of early childhood experts and product designers, to be educational and also entertaining for kids. Every month, the child explores a new area that excites them, such as space or rainforest. And Magic Crate provides all the necessary materials, ideas and instructions for these themed activities.

Magic Crate has shipped more than 5 lakh crates till date and is growing 100 percent Y-o-Y. The Company is on track to touch more than 70,000 shipments per month by March 2019.

"Magic Crate is going after a huge white space. During the early years, the child spends more time at home than at school, and yet there are no large consumer brands catering to millennial parents looking to engage their children productively at home. The team has built a solid product line and business model that's allowing them to scale in a very capital efficient way," said Venture Partner, Fireside Ventures, Kannan Sitaram.

"Magic Crate has been unit profitable for over a year thanks to our strong repeat rates and 50 percent+ gross margins. With this business vertical scaling well with strong unit economics, we are now working on launching exciting new products to our customer base and this funding round helps accelerate our efforts," said co-founder and COO, Magic Crate, Karthik Lakshman.