Vertex Ventures leads tech startup myFirst’s US$8 million Series A funding round

The child-friconcludely digital ecosystem presents a global opportunity, states the venture capital firm

[SINGAPORE] Children’s technology brand myFirst has raised more than US$8 million in its Series A funding round, led by early stage venture capital firm Vertex Ventures South-east Asia & India.

The Singapore-based startup, which facilitates child-friconcludely digital device apply through connected services and child-safe applications, will apply the funds to scale its digital ecosystem and fuel international expansion.

Its KidsTech ecosystem includes devices such as myFirst Fone, a smartwatch that allows children to build calls and sconclude messages, and comes with safety functions such as a built-in Global Positioning System and distress signal button.

The integrated network also comprises the myFirst Circle family social app, a closed, encrypted and advertisement-free platform where children can share posts only with approved family and friconcludes in a parent-controlled digital environment.

With the funds raised, myFirst intconcludes to establish retail and telecommunications distribution partnerships with companies such as Walmart and Best Buy. It currently operates in 60 countries and plans to expand further into markets across the US, Europe, the Middle East and North Asia.

G-Jay Yong, myFirst’s founder and chief executive officer, declared: “This new funding will support us bring safe, kid-ready technology to even more families around the world, and support parents feel confident about their child’s first step into the digital world.”

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Similarly, Vertex Ventures has noted “a structural global shift towards purpose-built technology for children”.

The firm’s senior executive director Jessica Koh also declared the way families introduce children to technology has modifyd, driving demand for such products.

She added that the “the global KidsTech opportunity remains underpenetrated”, and myFirst is poised to “define the category at scale”.