New Trend in AI Toys: Haivivi Completes 200 Million Yuan Series A Funding, Multiple Blockbuster IP Products to Launch Soon
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According to LatePost, Haivivi, an innovative company specializing in AI toys, recently announced the successful completion of a 200 million yuan Series A funding round. This round was jointly led by CICC Capital, Sequoia China, Huashan Capital, and Joy Capital, with participation from institutions such as CMB International. Existing shareholders, including Brizan Ventures founded by former Dean of HKUST's School of Engineering Ping-Keung Ko, continued to invest.
This funding will help Haivivi accelerate product development and market expansion. The company revealed that it has secured licensing for well-known IPs like Ultraman, Peppa Pig, and Nailong, with plans to launch over ten co-branded IP products in the second half of this year. Among them, the highly anticipated second-generation AI toy series, CocoMate, will officially debut on August 27. The first batch of products will include limited-edition Ultraman IP models (Zero and Tiga) and Haivivi's self-developed IP "Bubble" gift box.
Haivivi's founder and CEO, Li Yong, is a serial entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the consumer hardware industry. He was involved in the growth of Tmall Genie from zero to 30 million units and successfully developed an early education device with sales exceeding hundreds of thousands of units. His first foray into the AI toy sector was last year's BubblePal, a conversational hardware that attaches to plush toys, with cumulative sales surpassing 200,000 units.
Despite BubblePal's success, user feedback highlighted its limitations, such as the "long-press to wake" feature being too complex for children and the requirement for a 2.4G WiFi connection restricting usage scenarios. To address these issues, Haivivi's second-generation product, CocoMate, has undergone comprehensive upgrades:
- Hardware Integration: The hardware is directly embedded into the doll, offering a more seamless design while remaining detachable.
- Interaction Optimization: Users can wake or turn off the toy with a simple "shake," making the operation more intuitive.
- Freedom from Restrictions: A built-in 4G communication module allows the toy to be used outdoors without WiFi.
Additionally, CocoMate adopts an end-to-end voice model, enabling users to interrupt the AI's speech at any time for a more natural "human-to-human" conversation experience. The team also designed a soundtrack surfacing mechanism specifically for children's dialogue scenarios, ensuring uninterrupted conversations amid background noise. When children ask questions, the volume adjusts seamlessly to bridge stories and responses.