With 11,000 pre-orders, Play-i gets $8 million Series A

It was just a few months ago that Play-i raised over $1.4 million on Kickstarter. With a heavy advertising buy during the holiday season they now have 11,000 pre-orders for their Bo and Yana robotic toy. Yesterday they announced a Series A financing of $8 million. In the announcement about the funding they announced partnerships with over 100 developers who plan to produce independent apps for the new toy.

And they also reported that over 200 schools have signed up to use Bo & Yana to teach programming.

Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group and Boston-based Charles River Ventures provided the Series A funding.

“This financing will help us expand our team and invest in building and growing the software platform for Bo & Yana,” said Play-i CEO Vikas Gupta.

Play-i is hiring engineers and designers passionate about giving children the head start they deserve. Find out more at http://play-i.com/careers.

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Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.

Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.