Toymail makes Talkies, a line of plush toys that let kids send voice messages to approved contacts without looking at a screen. One of the co-founders of Toymail, MIT graduate Guari Nanda, pitched the two-way voice chat toy on Shark Tank in February 2017. She made a deal with Lori Greiner and guest shark Chris Sacca — $600,000 in exchange for 5 percent equity of Toymail.
Since filming the Shark Tank episode, Toymail has launched its Toymail Cloud for Talkies, a platform that includes a number of apps including Remindie (“an audible calendar for kids”), Sleepie (the toy emits soothing sounds at bedtime), and Voicie (kids can add fun filters to their voice), among others. According to the Toymail blog, with backing from the Alexa Fund, the company is integrating the voice recognition software inside Amazon’s Echo into the next generation of Talkies. Kids will be able to Google, stream, and chat “with zero chance of posting a selfie or serial clicking Youtube videos.” New episodes of Shark Tank (Season 9) air Sundays at 9pm on ABC. [Related: 27 Favorite ‘Shark Tank’ Products at Amazon — New List]
