Bollywood actress, producer, social worker Diya Mirza has joined Indian wooden toy startup Shumee as an investor and brand ambassador. Meeta Sharma Gupta’s Bengaluru-based D2C brand creates “development-friendly child-safe toys for kids up to the age of eight.”
Shumee’s toys are designed in-house by their designers and handcrafted by local artisans out of wood, cotton, and other child-safe materials. Since its inception in 2016, the startup has sold over 200,000 toys in six countries. It sells directly through its website as well as through platforms such as Amazon.
Speaking on the investment, Dia Mirza said, “As a mom, I am constantly looking for products that ensure safety, are environmentally conscious, free from plastic and are made from a mother’s perspective.”
“We seem to have taken the real fun out of children’s toys and have in turn flooded our homes with plastic, but with Shumee, what we have is pure joy with a promise of safety!” Mirza added.
This adds to the increasing list of Bollywood stars that support Indian direct-to-consumer brands. Nua, a women’s health D2C brand, raised funds from Deepika Padukone, who also works closely with the brand to ideate and design new products.
Another Bollywood celebrity, Alia Bhatt, launched a startup called Ed-a-mamma last year, which makes clothing for kids aged 2 to 16. Bhatt also has a stake in the D2C wellness startup Phool.co, the fashion startup StyleCracker, and the IPO-bound Nykaa.