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Russian AI-enabled teddy bear readies for U.S. market

A new Russian edtech project called Mishka AI has successfully launched domestic sales of its toys and is planning expansion into the U.S. market by the beginning of next year, Firrma.ru reported. 

Mishka AI is a smart stuffed toy with a built-in children’s content supply platform powered by artificial intelligence technology. 

The Mishka developer was fully sold out of its inaugural 1,200 toy batch back in March 2019, with Russia accounting for 90% of customers and the rest gone to the United States, Europe, and the former Soviet Union countries. At this point, the teddy bear “speaks” Russian only. Following $97,000 worth of starting sales, the Russian company hopes to sell another 10,000 teddy bears by the end of this year. 

Also, on May 7 the developer launched $5/month subscriptions for children’s fairy tales; each day the Mishka teddy bear tells a new tale to its little owner. A reported 11% of the Mishka users have already subscribed for the service since then. 

The company has plans for September-October this year to start promotion and direct online sales of the Mishkas to Russian-speaking audiences in the U.S. By the beginning of 2020 the English-speaking toy will go to the rest of American customers. Following online sales, talks will begin with offline outlets across the States.

This story initially appeared in Marchmont Innovation News, Russia’s daily business news website.

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