I can probably guess the last piece of corporate swag you received: It was most likely a t-shirt, a tumbler, or a Moleskine with a logo of a company you’d probably soon forget.
But Jackson and Quincy Fuller, ages ten and seven, have a better idea: Stuffed animals, inspired by corporate logos and mascots. This June, the brothers—whose parents are Upfront Ventures general partner Kobie Fuller and kids’ clothing entrepreneur Shennel Fuller—founded Stuffers to help startups build better (and cuter) swag.
“Stuffers makes swag for companies big and small,” said Quincy, holding up Laurel, an adorable, soft-smiling “time block” that Stuffers made for AI time-tracking startup Laurel, last valued at $510 million.
This is, in certain ways, an AI story, father Kobie points out. The client comes in with a brand and character, and Jackson and Quincy then draw out a sketch of what the Stuffer could be. Then they go to their Stuffer Studio, built on OpenAI’s real‑time voice API and a number of image generation models. (They show me how it works by designing what a Stuffer for Fortune would look like—a big-eyed money bag.)
“Never before [has it been] possible to be able to draw ideas and then be able to have them turn into something that is fully product-ready,” said Kobie. “And now, we can do that with these raw, brilliant, creative ideas that only a little kid [could] come up with.”
Mom Shennel makes a good point, too—that kids are actually uniquely suited to, well, being the ones who design stuffed animals.
To Laurel cofounder and CEO Ryan Alshak, the first Stuffers “yes,” this is as much about corporate swag that you keep as it is a thoughtful experiment in what the youngest generation of entrepreneurs could grow up to be.
“This is more than a toy,” said Alshak via email. “It’s a proof of concept for how the next generation will learn in an AI-powered world. The Stuffy is the starting point for building an AI supply chain for education—teaching children the fundamentals of business and creativity through play. That’s the future of learning.”
Examples of Stuffers to date include HeatWave, a rosy-cheeked flame for AI market research startup Heatseeker, and their mascot, Adveri (a kid-style mashup of the word “advertising” and pictured in the online version of this article). Jackson and Quincy have been out finding clients, and Friday afternoons are set aside for pitch meetings.
“My goal is to have a Stuffers commercial, and I also want a billboard,” said Jackson. “And our goal’s to reach 50 customers in one year.”
Laurel’s Alshak believes: “I thought I was a pretty effective seller until I met the Stuffy CEO and COO. They could sell ice to an igloo—or a Stuffy to Build-A-Bear.”
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Venture Deals
- Nirvana, a San Francisco-based AI-powered commercial insurer, raised $100 million in Series D funding. Valor Equity Partners led the round and was joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst.
- Enlightra, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based developer of technology designed to accelerate communication between AI chips, raised $15 million in funding from Y Combinator, Runa Capital, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Protocol Labs, and others.
- Tin Can, a Seattle, Wash.-based developer of a screen-free and text-free landline phone designed for kids, raised $12 million in seed funding. Greylock led the round and was joined by Lateralus Holdings and existing investors.
- Feanix, an Asheville, N.C.-based agricultural genomics and farm management platform, raised $5.3 million in seed funding. Initialized Capital led the round and was joined by Overwater Ventures, General Catalyst, and Collab Fund.
- InfiniteWatch, a New York City-based developer of AI agents designed for customer interaction, raised $4 million in funding. Base10 Partners led the round and was joined by others.
Private Equity
- An investor group led by Permira and Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire Clearwater Analytics, a Boise, Idaho-based investment management platform, for $8.4 billion.
- RELEX Solutions, backed by Blackstone and TCV, agreed to acquire Ida, a Paris, France-based developer of software designed to optimize the ordering of fresh produce. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Revelar Capital acquired Lettermen’s Energy, a Kansas City, Mo.-based propane distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOs
- Aktis Oncology, a Boston, Mass.-based biotech company focused on solid tumors, filed to go public on the Nasdaq. The company posted $6 million in revenue for the year ended Sept. 30. MPM BioImpact, Vida Ventures, EcoR1 Capital, and Blue Owl Capital Holdings back the company.
- MiniMed Group, a Northridge, Calif.-based medical technology group and carveout of Medtronic, filed to go public on the Nasdaq. The company posted $2.9 billion in sales for the year ended Oct. 24.
