Toy Company KiwiCo Sees Children as 'Young Innovators'
*By: Madison Alworth*
Many toy makers may feel imperiled by the closing of Toys 'R' Us, but KiwiCo seems to be doing just fine.
The company, which sells kits that encourage kids to build and create their own toys, says sales have grown at an annual rate of about 60 percent a year since its founding in 2011.
"This year we are approaching $100 million in sales," said Sandra Oh Lin, the company's founder and CEO, in an interview with Cheddar.
KiwiCo took in a round of financing to the tune of $10 million early on. It started producing STEM-based toys, but evolved to sell crates of materials to build toys for everything from engineering to art to more.
"In a few weeks we are actually launching a new line called Atlas Crate, which is all about geography and encouraging kids to see themselves as global citizens," Oh Lin said.
"We are really about encouraging kids to see themselves as young innovators. We want them to embrace the thought that they are makers, that they have innate creativity. What we are trying to do is instill that creative confidence as well as the tools."
The crates are available as stand-alone products and through a subscription service. A [monthly subscription](https://www.kiwico.com/) starts at $19.95 but goes down in price if customers sign on for longer periods.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/kiwico-subscription-services-for-stem-toys)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was tricked into an extended phone call in January with Russian pranksters posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which Powell appeared to discuss the economic impact of interest rate hikes.
Amazon on Thursday reported stronger-than-expected revenue and profits for the first quarter, sending its stocks higher in after-hours trading. But its prices took a dip in the evening amid concerns about a continued slowdown in the company's profitable cloud computing unit AWS.
A key index of underlying inflation that is closely followed by the Federal Reserve remained elevated last month, keeping the Fed on track to raise interest rates next week for the 10th time since March of last year.
As a growing number of overweight Americans clamor for Ozempic and Wegovy — drugs touted by celebrities and on TikTok to pare pounds — an even more powerful obesity medicine is poised to upend treatment.
A California judge is ordering Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be interviewed under oath regarding statements about the safety and capability of the car maker's autopilot features.
David Wright, president and owner of Wright Financial Group LLC, joined Cheddar News to discuss Thursday's trading as stocks closed higher amid strong tech profits. But Wright says banking stress could sway markets down as the Federal Reserve could weigh more rate increases.
