In mid-2020, Bengaluru-based Vikram Madhusudhan found his home, and that of his friends’, cluttered with toys but their children glued to screens. The father of a 2.5-year-old son then, he decided to quit his job as a quality manager at Boeing to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations in the child-learning space. Two years later, Vikram with his brother-in-law, Bhanu Teja, launched Toyflix (toyflix.in), a toy library that specialises in STEM and educational toys.
“I realised I was spending a lot of money on toys, and I was reluctant to part with them due to their sentimental value. The children, however, lose interest in them within a few days,” he says, adding that due to a child’s short attention span, parents are hesitant to invest in expensive STEM and educational toys that are crucial for brain development.
These were the exact two reasons that prompted Sameena Shaikh to start Bundle of Joy last year. The mother of two says the idea sprung from a conversation she had with her mother about a popular baby rocker she bought for her son who was born during the second wave of the pandemic. “I put a lot of effort into the purchase as it wasn’t available in India, but my baby didn’t take to it. This is the same with toys as they get bored of them fast, so I figured renting them would be easier,” says Sameena.
