Two Boston tech investors became toy investors on Thursday. Toymaker OYO Sports landed $3 million in seed funding, led by Atlas Venture and Boston Seed Capital. The round brings the company’s total capital to $4.6 million.
OYO Sports designs and manufactures “minifigures” of pro-athletes to sell to fans, collectors and kids. The company has already inked official licensing and merchandising deals with Major League Baseball, the National Football League and National Hockey League, among other U.S. leagues. The company also plans to expand into European sports leagues.
OYO Sports also has a tech play in that it uses advanced manufacturing techniques and social media analytics to create its toy designs and produce minifigures when various players are popular in the eyes of their fans, in season.
“Sports is like reality TV in a way,” Atlas Venture Partner Ryan Moore told the Wall Street Journal. “If you don’t watch it when it first airs, the game results will be reported, everyone will tweet about the game and you’re just married to the moment.”
Moore has also invested in a pair of locally-based sports-related startups, including fantasy sports site DraftKings and video coaching app Ubersense.
OYO Sports currently makes all of its toys in Massachusetts, and sells minifigures of about 30 teams every season. More than 1,500 figures are available at the time.
The 120-person team is currently based in Acton, Mass.
Image via Sports Collectors Daily
