The archive · Consumer Apps · Product decision · 2023–2026
FoloToy bets LLM-powered, screen-free toys can become China's next consumer AI category
Shanghai's FoloToy stuffs LLMs into screen-free companion toys; 2025 sales up 5x, overseas shipments past 10,000, tens of millions in new funding.
FoloToy
What the business is
FoloToy is a Shanghai AI-hardware startup whose no-screen plush toys (sunflower, panda 'Mengmeng', bear 'LeLe') talk, move and remember through its MagicBox system, which connects toys to cloud or locally hosted large models.
Starting capital：Tens of millions of RMB across Pre-A and Pre-A+ rounds (January 2026), led by Shenzhen Capital Group and Nanshan Strategic Emerging Industry Investment with existing shareholder Alilo (Huohuotu/火火兔) following
How it started
Wang Le, a Tianjin University CS graduate who worked at a Silicon Valley smart-hardware company, and co-founder Guo Xinghua, a former senior engineer at a global industrial-robot leader, founded FoloToy in Shanghai in 2023, right after ChatGPT launched, betting that 'large model + toy' could become an emotional companion rather than a gimmick. They rented a first small workshop in Zhangjiang, Pudong, and defined the company as an 'AI hardware agent' firm, not a toy vendor.
What happened
By 2025 the category exploded and FoloToy grew with it: sales rose fivefold, overseas shipments passed 10,000 units, co-branded products shipped with ByteDance's Volcengine (the 'Eye-catching Package'/显眼包 sunflower) and China Merchants Bank, and an 'AI cat curator' museum-guide product launched in Shanghai museums. In January 2026 it closed Pre-A and Pre-A+ rounds of tens of millions of RMB led by Shenzhen Capital Group and Nanshan SEI Investment. In November 2025 the U.S. PIRG Education Fund reported that its $99 OpenAI-powered bear 'Kumma' gave unsafe and age-inappropriate answers; FoloToy voluntarily paused sales across its range, ran a company-wide safety audit, and gradually restored availability after tightening safeguards that PIRG's follow-up testing called 'better behaved'.
How it ended up
Still running and expanding: funded, growing 5x, and — after the Kumma safety scare — repositioning 2026 around two words from its CEO: restraint and focus, concentrating on the verified 'companionship + learning' and museum scenarios.
Background
FoloToy is a Shanghai startup founded in 2023 by Larry Wang (Wang Le), a Tianjin University computer-science graduate from a Silicon Valley smart-hardware company, and co-founder Guo Xinghua, a former senior engineer at a global industrial-robot leader. The bet, made right after ChatGPT launched: put large models into physical toys and turn them into companions that talk, move and remember. All products are deliberately screen-free, priced at ¥258–598, and run on the company's MagicBox system, which connects toys to cloud or locally hosted models.
FoloToy's wedge was hardware depth instead of price: it built motors, shafts and sensors into toys so they move and react, added memory and emotion-aware responses plus a self-hosting mode, and priced at ¥258–598. That produced 2025 sales up 5x, overseas shipments past 10,000 units, co-brands with ByteDance's Volcengine (the viral '显眼包' sunflower) and China Merchants Bank, and an 'AI cat curator' guiding visitors in Shanghai museums. In January 2026 it closed Pre-A and Pre-A+ rounds of tens of millions of RMB led by Shenzhen Capital Group and Nanshan SEI Investment.
Then, in November 2025, the U.S. PIRG Education Fund reported that FoloToy's $99 OpenAI-powered bear 'Kumma' answered edge-case prompts with unsafe content, and OpenAI said it suspended the developer's access. FoloToy voluntarily paused Kumma and its whole AI-toy range, ran a company-wide safety audit, added system-level topic rules, then gradually restored availability; PIRG's follow-up tests called the revised product 'better behaved'. CEO Wang called 2025 'chaotic' and set 2026 to restraint and focus on verified scenarios.
What has to be true
- FoloToy bet on LLM-in-toy in 2023, before the category existed, and was positioned to ride the 2025 explosion instead of chasing it.
- It refused the cheap chatbot-plush race, choosing robot-grade hardware, memory and local-model privacy as the moat.
- Its dual B2B/B2C model — Volcengine and China Merchants Bank co-brands plus own-brand products — funded development while building a consumer base.
- Screen-free, anti-addiction design was pitched as a trust advantage with parents, until the Kumma incident proved safety is existential for the whole category.
What can be applied
Differentiate with hardware depth, but safety is the real gatekeeper: FoloToy's robot-grade toys won 5x growth, then a child-safety scare forced a pause — category pioneers live or die on trust.
Aftermath
As of February 12, 2026, FoloToy is scaling with tens of millions of RMB in fresh Pre-A/Pre-A+ funding from Shenzhen Capital Group and Nanshan SEI Investment. Sales in 2025 grew fivefold year-over-year and overseas shipments passed 10,000 units; the company is converging its product lines on the parent-child 'companionship and learning' scenario and museum AI-guide deployments, and has resumed sales of Kumma with strengthened system-level safeguards after the November 2025 PIRG safety report and voluntary pause.
Sources
- An AI toy company secures tens of millions in financing, with core product sales increasing fivefold | Exclusive from Hardcore Kr
- 一年销售翻5倍，海外销量过万，这家上海厂商把AI玩具做出了“活人感”
- Sales of AI-enabled teddy bear suspended after it gave advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives
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