P.S. XO Merges with Seedling, Raises $7 Million

Funding led by LA’s two biggest funds: Upfront Ventures and Greycroft Partners

LOS ANGELES--()--P.S. XO, an e-commerce company co-founded by Soleil Moon Frye and Kara Nortman, announced today that it has merged with Seedling, an internationally-recognized toy and crafting brand founded by Phoebe Hayman that offers a rich catalog of high-quality products designed to help fuel imaginations. Seedling’s products are already sold internationally, and are available in thousands of retailers including Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Barneys, Harrods, Selfridges and many premium global outlets.

The combined company will be known as Seedling, and will marry the strengths of each individual entity with investors who will fuel its continued growth. With over 350 products, it is expected that Seedling will soon cross more than $10 million in sales. Seedling has sold its products for years exclusively in retail stores, while P.S. XO has developed comprehensive e-commerce capabilities and innovative social distribution channels such as Pinterest. P.S. XO recently launched its flagship app on iOS, which generated nearly 20,000 downloads in the first week.

Seedling’s goal is to provide simple online and offline ways to reduce the time and anxiety involved with entertaining one’s children, planning a party or shopping for the perfect gift. They offer unique and affordable high-quality products and make the purchasing experience seamless.

“We are excited to join with P.S. XO and their exceptional tech team to find new ways to make meaningful innovation in the e-commerce space. We look forward to leveraging Seedling’s distribution partnerships to bring our new offerings to parents everywhere,” said Phoebe Hayman, founder of Seedling, who will be the CEO of the newly-combined entity.

“We are thrilled and honored to be merging with Seedling. The brand’s global reach, wide assortment of award-winning products and successful track record throughout retail provides a strong partner to our business,” explains Kara Nortman, who will be on the board and serve as the Chairman.

The company is also announcing $7 million in new funding from Upfront Ventures and Greycroft Partners, showing strong investor appetite for the combination. “Merging Seedling and P.S. XO was an absolute no-brainer for us,” says Mark Suster, Partner at Upfront Ventures. “The toy and crafting markets are an $83 billion dollar market globally, and the power of Seedling’s well-known products plus P.S. XO’s e-commerce capabilities was a marriage made in heaven.”

For more information, please visit www.seedling.com. To download the free app, please visit http://app.psxo.com.

About Seedling

Seedling is passionate about creating hands-on experiences that nurture a child’s creativity, confidence and growth. They don’t believe in boundaries for a child’s imagination and offer a range of activity kits, toys and novelty items designed to inspire and excite girls and boys from toddlerhood through the teen years. Founded in 2007 by Phoebe Hayman, the company’s products have been a huge hit from the start, quickly growing into a well-loved international brand. With an award-winning range of over 350 products, Seedling is a perfect example of what a little inspiration and imagination can build.

About P.S. XO

Soleil Moon Frye and Kara Nortman came together with two shared passions: celebrating the parenting journey and creating products that would give busy families more time to enjoy small moments together. Their goal was to put the joy back into party planning. Play dates became brainstorming sessions, business meetings became family affairs and soon, P.S. XO was born. P.S. XO delivers beautiful parties right to your doorstep, reducing stress and giving you more time to enjoy milestone moments with your loved ones. P.S. XO party boxes are designed to help your family enjoy the process of creating your celebration – from the moment you open the box until the last bite of the birthday cake is gone. P.S. XO’s investors include Upfront Ventures, Greycroft, Google Ventures, Daher Capital, Mesa, CAA Ventures and Sherpa Foundry. www.psxo.com.

Contacts

For P.S. XO
Hyesun Ahn, 310-550-7200
hyesun@tbtpr.com

Contacts

For P.S. XO
Hyesun Ahn, 310-550-7200
hyesun@tbtpr.com