Really there was nothing that wasn't a Challenge in the beginning we thought we Could just go for it and people would Want it it was a big risk but it paid Off this is Jessica Ralph co-founder and CEO of love every a company specialized In toys designed to complement Children's developmental Windows as they Age after discovering a doctoral thesis Written on infant brain development in June 2010 Jessica and her friend Rod Were inspired to start a toy company Centered around early development if You've just had a baby or have purchased A baby gift in the past few years you've Probably come across a love every play Kit my deep interest in early childhood Development happened when I have my First baby because I really wanted the Very best for him but there's not a Whole lot of information for parents and So I just thought about it and I was Like how could I make this a more Universal experience for families and That's when I started dreaming about Building this vision for love every want To turn the page yes the global kids Activity subscription box Market is Valued today at nearly 99 billion and is On track to reach $20 billion by the end Of 2030 with this model love every's Goal is not only to harness and enhance A child's developmental windows in Regular intervals but also translate to
Parents what is happening with their Child's development along the way from The very beginning we never thought of It as just a toy company we thought of It as this platform that was going to Help parents and children both work on Early Childhood Together there are three numbers to look Out for in this story $2 million the Seed funding raised from friends family And investors $226 million love every's Revenue for 2023 and over 350,000 the number of love every active Subscribers today here's how two friends Reimagine children's toys and Revolutionized playtime this is founder [Music] Effect after reading a doctoral thesis And tired with all the plas electronic Toys dominating the children's Market Jessica chose to carve her own path I Realized that I could do some very Simple things that would make a Difference in my child's future and had Nothing to do with those plastic toys I Started making my own toys discovering All these things in our environment and Realized that I wanted to share this With others no stranger to starting Companies Jessica had previously Co-founded organic baby food brand happy Family in 2005 and the nonprofit climate Collaborative in 2017 after happy family Was sold Jessica reached out to her
Friend rod in June 2014 about starting a New company rod and I have known each Other for over 20 years he is my best Friend's husband I was already Interested in early childhood just Because I was really interested in being A good dad and being involved in my kids Lives Jessica and I had known each other For such a long time it was pretty Organic when we started talking about This idea he said I get this this is a Big vision and said let's co-found this Company we decided to split the company 50 50 I would be the CEO he would be the President from there love every really Became real Jessica and Rod founded love Every in March 2015 for seed funding They raised $2 million from friends Family and early investors we found that We needed to raise 2 million in Financing and they came from Happy Family some came from our new network we Were going out to people who we knew Largely they were writing checks of $25,000 $50,000 primarily and it was Really more of a personal And it was on idea and that was Basically to fund us getting to Market Jessica and Rod hired three employees to Help get the company started and create Prototypes really there was nothing that Wasn't a challenge in the beginning Getting the product right was probably The very hardest thing and taking the
Time that we needed to make sure that we Were at the right place to go to Purchase order for creating the initial Play kits Jessica and Rod consulted many Academics researchers and practitioners And Drew from many different Inspirations there's a lot of different Philosophies that you can use to Approach Early Learning we wanted to Bring in the best of all of them and one Of them that inspired us because it had A lot of physical tools and learning Tools was the monor method there's a lot Around Independence Discovery and really Natural materials that we found really Appealing about the montauri method We're looking at the science behind what A child is going to be hungry to learn And any given moment in time around a Particular stage that we're focused on So we started with the play gym we had a Paper version where we were figuring out These flaps that could open and close so You could evolve the stages and the cost That we got from the factory was $150 we wanted to retail for something Like $100 so there was no way we were Going to get to product Market fit we Continue to iterate we contined to Evolve the product and we got to a Bitter manufacturer and got to a cost That made Sense in November 2017 after 17 months In development love everyy officially
Launched its first produ product the Play gym retailing for $140 that was Triple the price of the Most expensive Play Gym on the market at The time with all of this value we Thought we could just go for it and we Thought people would want it it was a Big risk but it paid off it was one Product we had to get it right in July 2018 9 months after launching the play Gym love every started its direct to Consumer Early Learning Program a Stage-based subscription service this Included six play kits costing $80 each And deliv every every 2 months for the First year of the child's life and we Really had one key question our family Is willing to invest a little bit more Time and a little bit more intention Into these early years and what we found Is that everyone wanted the very best For their families and so we discovered This universal truth and we felt like we Were really on to something the first Day that we launched the play kits we Got 112 customers it was so amazing I Remember seeing those customers coming Through I wanted to know more about Their families it was just such an Exciting Day by the end of 2018 love every Brought in nearly $7 million in annual Revenue in May 2019 love every extended Its Early Learning Program by a year and
Launched four additional play kits to Include one-year-old as well these were Priced at $120 each and delivered every 3 months since then four play kits each For two 3 and four-year-olds have also Been released also at $120 this brought the total number play Kits sold by love everyy up to 22 Covering the first 5 years of a child's Life love ever successfully completed Its series a funding in 2018 series B in 2019 and series C in 2021 raising $132 Million total in 20121 we were actively Building relationships with a lot of big Institutional when we ultimately did $100 million round that was led by the Churnin group I think that was a Well-run process because of everything We learned before and also at that point We were quite bit more sophisticated in Terms of the way in which we were Instrumenting the business and using Data to drive the business which is just Something that big institutional Investors want to see Love every's play Kits program is only direct a consumer But some of its products can be Purchased individually from wholesalers Like Amazon Target and babylist these Include among others the $15 tricky Topics books and the $90 Block Set half Of our customers say that they heard About love every through a friend so This is really a business that is driven
By Word of Mouth and recognition and That onetoone recommendation from [Music] Families today love 's products are Designed in Boise Idaho and manufactured Out of a network of suppliers in Asia One of its products the slide and- seek Ball run was recalled in 2023 due to Wooden knobs breaking off during Shipping well of course we put Children's Safety First with everything We do here has to be your top priority In this business and so when we heard About this mistake which was uh driven By a packaging error in our warehouse we Immediately reached out to the consumer Product safety commission started Working with them the good news is we Got ahead of it and there were no Serious injuries involved in the past Few years Revenue has grown steadily for Love every however despite ending 2023 With $226 million the company says it is Not currently profitable profitability Is going to come for us with scale and Growth and one of the most important Things that we're doing to get there is To not change the quality of the product For consumers so there's a lot that we Can do around efficiencies around Shipping and Logistics and we're making All of those changes but we're not Changing the core fundamental value Proposition for our customers we got a
Lot of pressure from investors to find Ways to cheapen our products so that we Could get more margin make the business More profitable we have instead focused On finding ways to take costs out of our Structure that don't affect the products At all because we care deeply about our Our customers and children just in General having a great experience with Our products a safe experience with our Products that's just our our top Priority in July 2024 love every la Launched its reading skill set a Three-part phonics-based learning Program sold individually for $155 each Or $420 as a set it is intended to Motivate Elementary age children to read Through elements of play we've made Really Dynamic engaging books with Photography of children of families of Customers of ours and these engaging Stories really help inspire a love of Reading it's joyful and playful so Children can remain confident throughout The whole process of learning to read so They learn to read through games and Play and then practice with the Books looking ahead love every is Considering integrating technology into Their products beyond their current Mobile app for parents if you look at Children deep into elementary school They're using screens for learning all The time will we never ever have
Anything screen based for love every Customers down the line you know I think It remains question to be answered but For now we're mostly focused on using Tech to help parents more than kids Today love every has over 350 ,000 Subscribers across 34 markets worldwide As the company expands it will continue To focus on parents and each child's Development we can't hurry the process We need to be as thoughtful and Obsessive as we need to be to have Things that people are going to love and That children are not going to get tired Of playing with we really tune into this World of the child and help parents have A whole new window into what their child Is capable of and that's amazing for Parents to see [Music]
