Osmo, the interactive hardware game that connects to any iPad has announced that Apple has accepted their product to be retailed across their 284 locations in North America capturing high profile shelf space in the most successful retail store ever. Simultaneously Osmo shared that it has closed a Series A funding round for $12 million led by Accel Partners. Additional investors included Upfront Ventures and K9 Ventures. Accel Partners’ Rich Wong will join the company’s board of directors.
Osmo launched a pretail campaign this past summer. The initial funding goal was easily reached. Crowdfunding backers quickly generated over $2 million with the product shipping this past month.
“A year ago Jerome and I were still 3D printing Osmo in my garage, iterating on jagged prototypes. Now our product has reached a point where it will be sharing shelf space with devices that have redefined or built whole new markets like the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac,” said Pramod Sharma, CEO and co-founder of Osmo. “It’s an incredible moment for our company and with our new round of funding and another great investor we can continue to push ourselves to make Osmo even better as we redefine the way kids play.”
Rich Wong, the company’s new board member commented on the young company;
“Osmo’s technology makes childhood education more personal, creative and engaging. We believe that the future of education will rely on intuitive innovation that amplifies learning through interactive online-to-offline experiences – Osmo is at the forefront of this movement,” said Wong. “Osmo is a natural fit for parents and teachers because it adds a small but powerful layer of technology on top of a platform (the iPad) that children already know and love.”
Pramod Sharma and Jerome Scholler, two former Google employees, launched Osmo in 2013. As parents they sought to create an educational and interactive gaming environment that also leveraged digital technology. Pramod earlier this year described Osmo, “It expands gameplay beyond the screen and allows you to bring anything into the game – letting your imagination run wild – from pens and paper to toy dinosaurs – the possibilities are endless.”