Boulder-based Sphero announced yesterday it had secured $45 million in funding, bringing their total funding to $80 million. The funding was led by the Mercato Partners with additional funding from a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. We first caught wind of the funding last week, when the company filed a Form D.
As part of the deal the Mercato Partners’ Co-Founder and Managing Director Greg Warnock will join Sphero’s Board of Directors. Warnock has been on the boards of other consumer companies like Galileo Processing and Skullcandy.
"There's a perfect storm brewing in the toy industry, and our emerging technology will forever transform the way people play," Sphero CEO Paul Berberian said in a statement. “Mercato’s commitment to our business goes far beyond the financial investment; their partnership is a vote of confidence in what the Sphero team is building.”
Sphero said they will use the influx in capital to continue to grow their team, which currently employs about 70 people. In addition, they plan on expanding product research and IP development, as well as furthering their global expansion.
Sphero enjoyed worldwide buzz in April after it was revealed that the new BB-8 droid featured in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was created using the company’s technology. The company participated in Disney’s accelerator program last year, and was lucky enough to have Disney CEO Bob Iger as a mentor.
