Robo Fish is already one of the fastest-selling toys of all time, with 15 million having flipped off the shelves in the past year and a factory churning out 70,000 a day to satisfy global demand.
This stellar success leaves Zuru Toys worth more than £100million, with revenue next year projected to exceed £70million, cementing its status as one of the most innovative and fastest growing in an ultra-competitive industry dominated by long-established major players such as Hasbro, Mattel and Disney.
The story of how the toy company was founded by two brothers a decade ago has until now remained a secret and is a rags to riches tale reminiscent of a Hollywood movie.
Mat and Nick Mowbray took the bold decision to move to China at the age of 18 and 23, not speaking a word of Mandarin, with just a few thousand pounds borrowed from their parents to set up their company.
They now have contracts to produce toys for Disney, Marvel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tamago, and are contacted by inventors leaving Chinese universities with ideas for groundbreaking toys. “Everyone goes to China for manufacturing products under contract, but we were the first to decide to live there to tap into the talent for engineering, design and manufacturing. This has allowed us to grow so quickly,” said Nick.
“They have whole cities devoted to counterfeiting, but another side is starting to emerge in China, as well as in Korea, to take the mantle from Japan as the centre of high-tech industries.
Single Robo Turtle aquatic toy with a plastic fish tank, rock formation and bonus set of batteries. After the roaring success of Robo Fish, Zuru are back with yet another underwater explorer, the Robo Turtle. When a finger is placed on its back, Robo Turtle will crawl around on top of the rock formation in search of the ocean. Once back in the depths it will spring to life, swimming around the tank in an incredibly lifelike way. To deactivate, simply remove from the water and dry.
