Playshifu Announces New Augmented Reality Toys at CES 2020

PlayShifu, the leading augmented reality (AR) toy company teaching foundational STEAM skills through physical and digital play, launches its newest products ahead of the 2020 International CES. New products include Shifu Tacto, three new gaming kits for Shifu Plugo and a whole new experience of its popular AR globe, Shifu Orboot, with two new planets to explore.

PlayShifu is revolutionizing the world of tomorrow by providing educational STEAM play experiences for the kids of today. As screen time continues to increase for children, the founders of PlayShifu - both parents - wanted to embrace technology as a part of their children's development and make screen time meaningful, not mindless. Shifu Orboot and Shifu Plugo, the brand’s top flagships, retain more active users for longer average periods of time beyond their purchase date compared to similar products.

PlayShifu has three flagship AR gaming experiences:

• NEW: Shifu Tacto: turns any tablet into an interactive board game


• Shifu Plugo: AR gaming system building STEAM skills through story-based challenges


• Shifu Orboot: AR-based planets to discover new eras, places, cultures and more  

Shifu Tacto ($59.99 per gaming set)

New Flagship Gaming Experience 

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PlayShifu’s latest product line turns any tablet into an interactive board game through augmented interactions and tactile play. Shifu Tacto enables a live connection between figurines and a digital display, combining the skills of classic board games with animated content following each move a player makes. There are three different gaming sets to choose from, and each one comes with one playboard and one companion app. Gaming sets include:

• Tacto Elements (Ages 7-12): unravel the basics of chemistry hands-on


• Tacto Laser (Ages 7-12): develop analytical thinking, creativity and spatial reasoning on interplanetary missions


• Tacto Quest (Ages 4-12): solve problems and use analytical thinking to navigate quests

Shifu Plugo ($35 per gaming kit; $49.99 for one gaming kit and gamepad)

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Shifu Plugo is an AR-powered gaming system that consists of one gamepad, numerous interchangeable gaming kits and one companion app. Each gaming kit offers age-adaptive educational games and builds STEAM disciplines through story-based challenges.

• NEW: Plugo Tunes (Ages 4-10): increase musical intelligence, persistence and creativity while learning to play piano through color association


• NEW: Plugo Slingshot (Ages 4-10): boost physics skills with an AR-powered slingshot


• NEW: Plugo Letters (Ages 4-10): improve language, storytelling and comprehension with exciting word games and fun, hands-on play

 

Shifu Orboot ($49.99 per globe)

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Shifu Orboot is perfect for homeschoolers, classrooms and parents to teach kids about planets through interactive experiences. Using a touchscreen device, kids explore a physical globe through visual storytelling, music and voice interactions and in-app quizzes and challenges. Powered by the Orboot app, available in eight languages, Shifu Orboot comes with one base, one companion app and offers two new interchangeable planets, including:

• NEW: World of Dinosaurs (Ages 4+): dive into the prehistoric world to learn about more than 50 dinosaurs


• NEW: Planet Mars (Ages 7+): get to know the space missions and rovers traversing Mars.

“As we enter a new decade, PlayShifu’s latest toys will continue to positively integrate physical and digital play to develop foundational learning skills,” said Vivek Goyal, CEO of PlayShifu. “Whether your child is discovering new cultures around the world or learning physics using a catapult, our toys use the benefits of modern technology combined with tactile play to enhance the STEAM learning experience.”

New products can be ordered on the PlayShifu website in 2020 and will be on display throughout the duration of the 2020 International CES at Booth #45155 in The Sands, Halls A-D. The 2020 International CES event takes place January 7-10, 2020.

About PlayShifu

Playshifu is the leading AR toy company offering a variety of immersive, educational toys that connect the physical and digital worlds. The play experiences are specially designed for kids ages 2 to 12 years and build foundational, STEAM skills through fun. Founded in 2016 by Dinesh Advani and Vivek Goyal after they saw a need to provide meaningful digital play experiences for their kids, PlayShifu is now loved around the world. With offices in the Bay Area and Bangalore, India, PlayShifu products are available in more than 15 countries.

Augmented Reality Startup Play Shifu Raises Funding In A Round Led By IDG Ventures

Bengaluru based augmented reality-enabled interactive educational games startup Play Shifu, has raised funding in a pre-Series A round led by IDG Ventures and IDFC-Parampara Fund. The startup however did not revealed the amount of funding raised in the round.

MobilizAR Technologies Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of Play Shifu, will use the freshly raised funds to extend its reach, globally, and to strengthen its technology and design team.

Founded in 2016 by by Stanford and IIT Kharagpur alumni Vivek Goyal and Dinesh Advani, Play Shifu is an educational startup that makes augmented-reality based games for children between the ages of two and 10 years.

“We strongly believe in technologies that bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds, specifically for early-learning. The tremendous global response for Shifu Orboot, the smart globe, has given us a major boost in the ed-tech space,” said Goyal in a statement.

The news was first reported in VCCircle.

The startup sells its AR-based games across several online and offline channels throughout India including Amazon, Flipkart, Hamleys, Babyoye to name a few. The startup most recently forayed into the US through Amazon.

Jatin Desai, general partner at IDFC-Parampara Fund, said Play Shifu was one of the very few Indian startups to have been able to commercialise augmented and virtual reality-based products successfully and sell to customers globally.

“The success of Play Shifu’s Orboot product on Kickstarter in such a short time with limited resources speaks highly of the team’s domain knowledge and market opportunity,” said IDG Ventures India Advisors director Karthik Prabhakar.

India is seeing a ramp up in augmented reality and virtual reality startup segment as just last week Kalpnik Technologies, a virtual reality-driven spiritual startup, had raised $500,000 in a seed round from a group of angels at funding and incubation platform Venture Catalysts.

Last month, another VR & AR startup GridRaster has a raised $2 million in seed funding from a group of venture capital firms, which included Exfinity Ventures, Lumia Capital, Pipeline Capital, NexStar Partners, Unshackled Ventures and Explorer Group.

Prior to this, in May, Chymera VR Inc, a virtual reality advertising platform, had secured funding from a clutch of angel investors, including People Group founder and chief executive Anupam Mittal, Airbnb’s global expansion head Varsha Rao, Google executive Surojit Chatterjee, and HHC Holdings chairman Nirav Choksi. The investment was made through the LetsVenture platform.

In March, virtual reality startup ShilpMIS Technologies had raised an undisclosed amount through IvyCamp Ventures.

Augmented Reality Startup Play Shifu Raises Funding In A Round Led By IDG Ventures

Bengaluru based augmented reality-enabled interactive educational games startup Play Shifu, has raised funding in a pre-Series A round led by IDG Ventures and IDFC-Parampara Fund. The startup however did not revealed the amount of funding raised in the round.

MobilizAR Technologies Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of Play Shifu, will use the freshly raised funds to extend its reach, globally, and to strengthen its technology and design team.

Founded in 2016 by by Stanford and IIT Kharagpur alumni Vivek Goyal and Dinesh Advani, Play Shifu is an educational startup that makes augmented-reality based games for children between the ages of two and 10 years.

“We strongly believe in technologies that bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds, specifically for early-learning. The tremendous global response for Shifu Orboot, the smart globe, has given us a major boost in the ed-tech space,” said Goyal in a statement.

The news was first reported in VCCircle.

The startup sells its AR-based games across several online and offline channels throughout India including Amazon, Flipkart, Hamleys, Babyoye to name a few. The startup most recently forayed into the US through Amazon.

Jatin Desai, general partner at IDFC-Parampara Fund, said Play Shifu was one of the very few Indian startups to have been able to commercialise augmented and virtual reality-based products successfully and sell to customers globally.

“The success of Play Shifu’s Orboot product on Kickstarter in such a short time with limited resources speaks highly of the team’s domain knowledge and market opportunity,” said IDG Ventures India Advisors director Karthik Prabhakar.

India is seeing a ramp up in augmented reality and virtual reality startup segment as just last week Kalpnik Technologies, a virtual reality-driven spiritual startup, had raised $500,000 in a seed round from a group of angels at funding and incubation platform Venture Catalysts.

Last month, another VR & AR startup GridRaster has a raised $2 million in seed funding from a group of venture capital firms, which included Exfinity Ventures, Lumia Capital, Pipeline Capital, NexStar Partners, Unshackled Ventures and Explorer Group.

Prior to this, in May, Chymera VR Inc, a virtual reality advertising platform, had secured funding from a clutch of angel investors, including People Group founder and chief executive Anupam Mittal, Airbnb’s global expansion head Varsha Rao, Google executive Surojit Chatterjee, and HHC Holdings chairman Nirav Choksi. The investment was made through the LetsVenture platform.

In March, virtual reality startup ShilpMIS Technologies had raised an undisclosed amount through IvyCamp Ventures.