Funskool (India) Ltd. is an Indian toy manufacturing company, founded in 1987 with headquarters in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. Apart from its own brands, the company also manufactures and distributes products in the Indian market under license from foreign toy brands including
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
,
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
,
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
,
Takara Tomy
is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Tak ...
, and
Ravensburger
Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market.
History
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...
.
History
Funskool was established in 1987 as a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
by
MRF Ltd. and American toy manufacturer
Hasbro, Inc.
The company began commercial operations the following year.
Funskool manufactures all its products (including licensed products) at manufacturing facilities in
Ranipet
Ranipet is a southern suburb of Chennai, India. Ranipet (lit. Queen's colony) is an industrial hub of Southern Chennai city in southern India. It is located about from the Chennai city center. It is a major industrial town located on NH 4 Che ...
, near Chennai, and in
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
. Funskool opened its third manufacturing at Ranipet on 20 March 2019, which is dedicated to handling exports.
The company's main competitors in the Indian market are
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
and
FisherPrice.
In 2014, Funskool surpassed Mattel to become the market leader in the mid to premium range of the Indian toy market.
Funskool's licence to manufacture
Lego
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
products was discontinued in 2019.
In June 2022, the company acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute the board game
Abalone
Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...
from
Asmodee
Asmodee is a French publisher of board games, card games and role-playing games (RPGs). Founded in 1995 to develop their own games and to publish and distribute for other smaller game developers, they have since acquired numerous other board game ...
. In July 2022, Funskool acquired the licence to manufacture action figures based on characters from
Green Gold Animations
Green Gold Animation Pvt Ltd, is a Hyderabad-based Indian Animation company, with offices in India, Singapore, Philippines and the United States. It is known for creating the '' Chhota Bheem'' television series and the ''Krishna'' film series. G ...
' ''
Chhota Bheem
''Chhota Bheem'' () is an Indian animated comedy adventure television series, created by Green Gold Animations based in Hyderabad, This show is available in English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Bheem is a brave, strong and intelligent young boy. H ...
'' series.
Funskool products are currently exported to Africa, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Europe, the
Gulf Cooperation Council
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( ar, مجلس التعاون لدول العربية الخليج ), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ar, مجلس التعاون الخليجي), is a regional, interg ...
countries,
Maldives
Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the United States.
Stores
Funskool opened a
Lego store
Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aroun ...
in Chennai in 2013.
Following the success of the venture, the company opened the first Funskool store in
Coimbatore
Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...
in March 2014.
By September 2015, the company had opened one store each in eight cities across the country.
![Funskool Store Chennai Tamil Nadu India](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Funskool_Store_Chennai_Tamil_Nadu_India.jpg)
Most Funskool stores are operated by
franchisees
Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...
.
As of February 2021, there are 18 Funskool stores nationwide.
References
{{reflist
Toy companies of India
Toy brands
Indian brands
Indian companies established in 1987
Game manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Chennai
Toy companies established in 1987
1987 establishments in Tamil Nadu