Mit Verkaufspreisen von Tausenden und einem Bruttogewinn von über 90%: Kann ein AI-Spielzeug das nächste Pop Mart werden?

Investors have collectively been deceived and missed out on the billion - dollar legend Pop Mart. By now, this has become a classic counter - example in the venture - capital sector. This time, capital seems to be following the approach: "It's better to make a wrong investment than to miss a chance."

On August 25th, the AI toy company Haivivi officially announced the completion of a Series A financing worth 200 million yuan. This round was led by funds under CICC Capital, Sequoia China's Seeding Fund, Huashan Capital, and Joy Capital, with China Merchants Bank International and other co - investors participating. Old shareholders like Brizan Ventures have further increased their stakes.

It's worth noting that this is Haivivi's second financing round this year, and only four months have passed since the last Series A2 financing. Moreover, the company has set a record for the highest financing amount in the AI toy field.

Haivivi is not the only company favored by capital. The niche market of AI toys, which also focuses on providing emotional value, has so far attracted nearly 100 investment companies. According to data from IT Juzi, 96 investment companies have participated in this market so far, including leading investment companies and internet giants such as Sequoia, Shunwei, Wuyuan, ByteDance, and JD.com. Since the beginning of 2024, both the number and amount of financings in the AI toy field have increased significantly.

Capital is striving to secure an advantageous position and is betting on the next legendary era like that of Pop Mart.

Capital is collectively betting on AI toys

If 2024 was the year of the emergence of AI toys, then 2025 will be the year when they can be found everywhere. The players in the AI toy field range from start - ups to listed companies and internet giants, and financing, mass production, and marketing are in full swing.

Former executives of large companies have spurred the start - up sector of AI toys. The founders of some start - ups that received financings this year all come from leading companies.

Li Yong, the founder of Haivivi, was once the first marketing director of Smartisan Technology, worked at 360 Marketing, and was a partner at Alibaba's Tmall Genie. In 2021, after leaving Alibaba, he founded Haivivi and received the first financing just one month later.

Data from Tianyancha shows that since its establishment in 2021, Haivivi has completed a total of six financing rounds worth hundreds of millions of yuan. The investors include leading investment companies such as CICC Capital, China Merchants Bank International, Hong Kong Science and Technology Fund, Sequoia China, Huashan Capital, Joy Capital, and BlueRun Ventures.

For Vita Power, which completed two financing rounds in three months, the founder and CEO Yu Yinan worked at companies like Baidu and Horizon Robotics. The registered investors include well - known investment companies such as Hillhouse Capital and Capital Today.

For the AI robot toy company Ropet, which completed a Series A1 financing in the millions in September, the founder He Jiabin has gained experience at Microsoft, Baidu, and ByteDance.

In addition, the AI emotional companion hardware company Luobo Intelligence received an angel financing in June. The founder Sun Zhaozhi was previously the head of product design at XPeng Robotics. A widely - spread investment story about Luobo Intelligence is that investor Zhu Xiaohu, who once showed coldness towards the robot sector, decided to invest after a ten - minute conversation with Luobo Intelligence.

Leading investment companies are collectively flowing into the AI toy market. With the support of capital, start - ups have begun to expand rapidly.

The sales figures testify to the market's enthusiasm. Haivivi's BubblePal, the world's first AI toy launched in July last year, has sold 200,000 units in one year, and the total sales have now reached 250,000 units. At a selling price of 389 yuan per unit, this single AI toy has achieved a turnover of 100 million yuan.

The second product, the CocoMate series, launched in August, was immediately sold out when it hit the market, according to Haivivi employees. Currently, it is still in the pre - sale phase and only available on online platforms. The CocoMate and the BubblePal differ slightly in their functions. The CocoMate is the world's first end - to - end AI interactive toy that can more accurately detect a person's voice and emotions. The first product, the BubblePal, is a bit weaker in dialogue response but can be attached to the neck of any stuffed toy, thus bringing the favorite stuffed toy to life.

Luobo Intelligence's AI companion product Fu Zai has a similar price to the BubblePal, namely 399 yuan. Data shows that during this year's "618" sales, its sales volume ranked only behind the products of Pop Mart and Miniso on JD.com's trendy toy list. The founder revealed that 5,000 units were sold in July, and the production capacity of one to two million units was almost completely sold out in August.

Fu Zai comes in five colors, corresponding to the five elements in Chinese philosophy (metal, wood, water, fire, earth). On JD.com's product page, Fu Zai is promoted as an "AI robot that whistles at the boss". The salesperson revealed that the wood and fire versions sell the best.

Listed companies like Tom Cat and Alpha Group have also achieved growth through AI toys. Data shows that Tom Cat's AI emotional companion robot product, officially launched at the end of last year, achieved a live - sales income of over 1.8 million yuan on the first day of this year's "618" e - commerce sales and topped the AI toy list on Douyin. Since the beginning of the year, Alpha Group has started mass - producing AI - intelligent Pleasant Goat toys and has so far developed over three product generations, showing an obvious growth trend.

High - priced products cost thousands of yuan, with a profit margin of over 90%

The concept of AI toys is very broad. It is not simply a combination of AI and toys, and it is not limited to traditional children's toys. AI stuffed - toy hangers, AI stuffed toys, children's companion robots, AI pets, AI robots, and AI trendy toys all fall into the category of AI toys.

The market positioning of AI toys has expanded from children to young people, the elderly, and all age groups. The business model is mainly based on hardware sales and subscription services.

Currently, the prices of most AI toys on the market range from 300 to 400 yuan. Mid - range products cost about 1,000 to 3,000 yuan, and some high - end products can cost thousands of yuan. Take the AI companion robot product LOVOT from the Japanese company GROOVE X as an example. The base price is about 30,000 yuan, and the high - end version even costs over 60,000 yuan.

The price is positively correlated with the product functions. Factors such as language ability, the ability to perceive a person's emotional fluctuations, reaction speed, interaction ability, and IP ownership determine the price of a product.

The profit margin of AI toys is much higher than that of traditional toys and similar to that of trendy toys. After integrating AI into toys, the price is 5 to 10 times higher than that of traditional stuffed - toy products. Data from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute shows that the profit margin of basic products like BubblePal is in the range of 50% to 65%, the profit margin of Tom Cat robots and RoPet in the price range of 1,500 to 3,000 yuan is between 70% and 85%, and the profit margin of some high - end products like LOVOT and the Tesla robot can even exceed 90%, higher than the 70.3% profit margin of Pop Mart, the leading producer of trendy toys.

The imaginary profit space is attracting many players into the market. The reduction in the costs of large - artificial - intelligence models has extremely lowered the entry threshold for founding AI toy companies. Large companies, traditional toy manufacturers, IP companies, and AI toy start - ups have all targeted the AI toy market.

However, there may be far more companies in this industry that are good at financing than companies that can actually carry out mass production.

Qin Shuguang, the co - founder of the technology of the AI toy company Youni Robot, was previously a programmer for more than ten years. With the disappearance of industry advantages, after extensive market research, he finally decided to switch to the less competitive field of AI toys. He revealed to Tech Planet that they are collaborating with a technological product company in Shanghai. The company has invested about 5 million yuan since last year, and a team of over 30 people has worked on self - development for a year, finally developing the first desktop robot product Youni, which is offered at 399 yuan and competes with the Eilik robot.

The company's main profit model is ToB business, where it undertakes the production of products for brands. Shuguang revealed that they only make a profit of a few yuan for a product sold for a few hundred yuan.

Recent experiences have made him realize that many products in China are not successful because many people only focus on marketing concepts and financing with demo products. Many technology companies follow similar strategies. They raise millions or billions in financing, produce a demo product, and then disappear. The era of PowerPoint financing has turned into the era of demo financing, which has led to many processing companies in China being founded more for the production of demo products than for mass production. Many new start - up companies have difficulty passing this test, and he and his company have paid tens of thousands of yuan in tuition fees.

The billion - dollar market has a low success rate, and some have suffered losses of millions of yuan

The billion - dollar market is waiting for the next Pop Mart.

A study by the market research firm Market Research Future (MRFR), published in September 2025, shows that the AI toy market will grow from $42.15 billion in 2025 to $224.75 billion in 2034. During the forecast period from 2025 to 2034, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will be 20.48%.

However, the attitude of capital towards AI toys is not uniform. Some investors have made it clear that they do not have a positive view of the AI toy market.

The development of start - up companies in this market is also not very encouraging. An analyst in the field of artificial intelligence revealed to Tech Planet that he recently talked to entrepreneurs in the AI toy field and felt that the development in this market is not good. The costs of AI toys are high, and they do not sell as well as normal stuffed - toy products. The high number of financings may also be related to the strategy of investors who want to invest in every market. The financing amount can also reflect the importance of capital.

The success rate of AI toys is extremely low, and some have withdrawn from the project. An AI hardware entrepreneur Lao Shi revealed to Tech Planet that there are many entrepreneurs in the AI toy field in a community he belongs to. He talked to 40 to 50 companies, and so far only 2 to 3 companies have survived.

He himself gave up his AI toy project at the beginning of this year and focused on the development of learning - companion hardware. Lao Shi revealed that they were one of the first groups to be active in this field. They started in April, and the product was aimed at accompanying children in learning. In his perception, the market became hot in August last year, and many toy manufacturers and brand publishers asked if they could cooperate. At that time, the industry solution was still in its infancy. Therefore, Lao Shi's team provided technological solutions and collaborated with IP companies and toy manufacturers to develop AI companion products.

But soon, Lao Shi realized that the direction was wrong. Lao Shi revealed that he comes from product technology, so at the beginning, he often started from his own or his surroundings' needs without a very clear direction. By December last year, he realized that something was wrong. On the one hand, the product's retention rate was extremely low. On the other hand, the inventory was severely overstocked, and the market price was very low. The original price of over 100 yuan dropped to 70 to 80 yuan at the beginning of the year, and now it only costs 19.9 yuan or even 9.9 yuan. In addition, there were also technological problems such as low sensitivity and cumbersome operation.

Lao Shi revealed that after these failed attempts, they found that the industry is...