Dive Brief:

• Amid a toy retail transformation, Lovevery, which offers children's toys and educational content, unveiled The Lovevery App, which provides parents and caregivers with activity ideas, easy-to-understand research, live expert Q&As and other resources for their child's developmental stage, the company announced on Thursday. The app, now available in iOS, serves its Play Kits subscribers with kids aged 0 to 12 months old.
• The startup also announced that it raised $100 million in Series C financing from TCG, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and multiple other investors. The company said it plans to use the capital to support its global expansion, digital growth and content development for parents.
• The company noted that it has more than 220,000 active subscribers to its Play Kits program and has shipped more than 1 million kits over the past year.

Dive Insight:

Investors have been enamored with digitally native and DTC brands lately. Alongside Lovevery, Quip, Allbirds and Beauty Pie each raised $100 million recently, while DTC activewear brand Vuori raked in $400 million.

Lovevery's growth over the past year included expanding its product line, launching an exclusive product line with Target and taking its subscription service to Europe. The startup also touted its new proprietary, mobile-friendly subscription platform that helped streamline its operations and service subscribers worldwide.

"Lovevery now generates more than $100 million in subscription [annual recurring revenue], and our recurring revenue has grown more than 100% year-on-year," Roderick Morris, co-founder and president of Lovevery, said in a statement. "The investment led by TCG further strengthens our ability to add talent and capabilities in content, technology, and other critical functions that support the continued growth and expansion of the company."

As Lovevery debuts its mobile app, the toy industry is transforming to appeal to a new digital-savvy generation of children. Though Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy and liquidated all of its more than 700 stores, the company is staging a comeback by establishing 400 shop-in-shops within Macy's in 2022.

This year, being a toy retailer is particularly difficult. Given the pandemic-induced supply chain constricts, toymakers are concerned about their products arriving in stores for the all-important holiday season.