Cryptoys, which is building blockchain-based kids toys in partnership with Dapper Labs, raised a $23M Series A led by a16z, after a $7.5M seed in October 2021
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Cryptoys is the latest extension of a16z's long relationship with Dapper Labs: the firm led CryptoKitties' $12M Series A in 2018, and the spinout's parent followed with a $15M round led by Venrock later that year. Now a16z is funding a Dapper partner rather than Dapper itself, putting blockchain collectibles into children's hands via physical toys.
The raise also slots into a kids-tech funding lineage the corpus already tracks — Wonder Workshop pulled a $41M Series C for programmable kids' robots in 2017 — and anticipates the digi-physical push a16z Crypto later backed at IYK's $16.8M seed. Cryptoys is where those two threads — consumer NFTs and connected kids' products — converge.
First-order effects
- Cryptoys gets $23M on top of its October 2021 $7.5M seed to build out its toy line on Dapper Labs' infrastructure, with a16z now holding stakes on both sides of the partnership.
- Dapper Labs gains a marquee distribution partner for its collectibles platform, extending its consumer franchise beyond CryptoKitties into the children's market.
Second-order effects
- Connected-toy makers like Wonder Workshop face a competitor whose collectible economics — scarce digital items tied to physical products — offer a revenue layer their hardware-first model lacks.
- a16z's repeated bets (CryptoKitties, Cryptoys, later IYK) signal to other consumer-crypto startups that digi-physical products are the firm's preferred lane, concentrating follow-on capital there.
Third-order effects
- If blockchain-backed toys reach children at scale, the crypto legitimacy gap concept gets its hardest test yet: products marketed to minors will force regulators and parents to engage with NFT ownership, custody, and resale in ways adult-oriented collectibles never did.
- The toy industry could reorganize around platform economics — Dapper-style chains plus licensed physical goods — mirroring how Wonder Workshop-era hardware startups gave way to software-defined products.
The trend: Consumer crypto is moving from adult collectibles toward digi-physical products for younger audiences, with a16z funding both the platforms and the brands riding them.