Hi Jackson
Hey How you doing
Nice to meet you
We have tons of stuff over here, lots of collectibles, a lot of my favorite artists
people that we work with from all over the world
Jackson Aw is the founder of a designer toy company that has partnered with some
of the biggest visual artists and global brands worldwide,
producing collectibles that reflect pop culture and trendy designs
And in the process this Singapore entrepreneur propelled his $20,000
startup into a multi-million dollar international toy empire.
I grew up knowing that I'm not academically performing
really in that area and it's that realization that everyone else or at least I should pick
people who are way smarter than I am
and I collaborate with them and I work with them and if these artists
dedicated their career to building that craft
then they are way better than what I can ever be
Mighty Jaxx is a tech driven company that designs and manufactures
collectibles and lifestyle products
The 32 year old started the company back in 2012 when he was just 22.
Since then, Mighty Jaxx has sold millions of toy
collectibles in more than 80 countries around the world.
But this is not Jackson's first brush with entrepreneurship. When he was
18, Jackson started Red Army Camera to import, refurbish
and sell vintage cameras from Russia.
It started doing pretty well like 20 grand a month so it's pretty good money and then I went into
a more serious partnership for that brand -- seed investment things like that but then
through that period, I understand like certain differences in vision
would actually cause the company to to suffer in that sense so I left that company.
I couldn't continue with it.
But it was not long before the wheel started turning in Jackson's head again.
I started watching a lot of how it's made videos.
On youtube?
Yeah you know those videos that tells you how chicken nuggets are made and
like hot dogs, I mean fascinating right? Like the process that goes into it and so as I watch it
and I look at my shelf of like collectibles that I have because I'm a big collector of these things right
Jackson has been an avid toy collector since he was 17. Because I could only afford the $10 item
so I started collecting a lot of those so there are a whole bunch of them but a problem with
really with a with a hobby right, you sort of get sucked into it a little bit so you buy the 10
bucks item and then you buy like the you know 30 bucks 40 bucks and somehow you just start spending
hundreds on it and that's how I came to be a collector and and so I began to think like could I
you know create something physical with my own hands and craft it
With zero experience in toy production, his curiosity led him to book a one-way flight to
Shenzhen in China he visited factories to learn more about the toy production process including
techniques such as hand sculpting and moulding. I thought there was just a couple of machines that
spit it out and then I got a shock of my life when I saw hundreds of people over there just painting on
that one piece of item and crafting that item of what our perception would be a mass-market
product like action figure of sort right? You can buy in any, you know, big box store.
Inspired by what he saw in China, Jackson returned home after one month to create his own designer toy.
So I went to one of my very close friend - He's a graffiti artist, he's called CLOGTWO.
Together they created Mighty Jaxx's first collectible called Hell Lotus but Jackson quickly realized there's no
playing around in the toy business. Because I have virtually no credit score so I had to lean on my
my dad's credit cut and we maxed out that card. It was like 20 000 SGD. We launched it
at Comic Con.We sold 10 of the inventory which is like 20 pieces, 200 bucks each. Terrible .
But Jackson did not give up. He began cold calling and emailing specialty stores in the U.S.,
hoping to sell his toy. Eventually after six months that inventory was sold out. It's as if like we
never felt that fear again so I took the money and we rolled (with) it, we never took external money
until much later. Over the years, Jackson continued to partner with visual artists to create unique
limited edition collectibles. We now have over 100 different artists all over the world, the narration
has always been artist-centric. But the tide truly turned for the company in 2015 when Jackson
scored his first licensing partnership with DC Comics.
One day I just found the email of
the Global Head of toys in U.S. and his secretary replied. We do have 30 minutes
this Friday you can come by and just chat with us. So he saw the designs, we have like 3D prototypes
for him. And at the end of it, he was just, 'Alright' I went out of the room, I thought, 'Nah'
And the next day they sent over the contract and it was for a global deal and that period
of time, we caught triple the top line. That year, Jackson said Mighty Jaxx made 1.7 million dollars,
four times more than the previous year. Jackson began a double down on collaborations with top
brands, to tap into fandoms all around the world - from Hasbro and Nickelodeon to Netflix
and Formula 1. Through that, Jackson was also able to produce collectibles on a wider scale
and at a lower cost, making them more accessible for fans. I forgot that I came from a $10 item,
like I just got stuck with the more premium item because your understanding gets more sophisticated
and you want better. The DC collectibles were sold at $10 each. That is relatively affordable compared
to other Mighty Jaxx toys that are produced in much smaller quantities. Those can cost as much as $1200.
Toys are a big business. In 2021, 104 billion dollars worth of toys were sold with a compound
annual growth rate of 4.1 percent since 2016. Blind boxes where buyers do not know which
figurine or toy they will get until they unpack them, are also very popular in China.
The market for these items in China, also known as mystery boxes,
is expected to exceed 4 billion dollars by 2024.
Sensing an opportunity, Jackson started producing blind boxes in 2020, partnering with American
designer Jason Freeny, who is known for his iconic anatomical art. We applied it on like a lot of
our licensed partners and they all love it because it's such an alternative look to things and now it
becomes more of a staple line for us. The blind box collecting craze however has faced a fair
share of criticism. Some liken it to gambling, with dangers of breeding addiction as young consumers
cash in to complete entire collections. This has led to calls for more regulation over blind boxes
in China. At the start of 2022, Shanghai pushed out new rules limiting the price and prohibiting the
sales of toys to children below eight. We operate in a different manner, we are basically
creating things for the demographic of people that they are my peers right so they are like
20 over years old to 40 over years old. So now these are more seasoned collectors. The idea is to
distribute this culture to the people who understand that that is the objective for us
Between 2019 and 2021, the company's revenue grew at a compounded rate of 71 percent. To date,
Mighty Jaxx has raised around $40 million, valuing the company at over $200 million.
Its investors include Chinese conglomerates, Tencent, KB investment which is owned
by one of South Korea's largest banks and Tokovidia investor, East Ventures. Jackson's
next focus is expanding into the metaverse offering fans exclusive digital experiences
with physical collectibles. In 2021, Mighty Jaxx launched its first collection of NFT trading cards
featuring cats that look like the Chinese cuisine Dim Sum. When we launched it, 6 000 units. When it
sold for like i think two seconds, it was just sold out. We're like okay yet again almost like
DC moment. It's like something's happening. So when you buy our NFT you get access, an opportunity to
purchase the physical manifestation of it in that design. Only this bunch of people or fans,
would be able to purchase this figure. Now because only they could do it and they can combine the
both asset class together, it generates even higher value for them, because no one else in the world
could have it. And so with the value they purchase more products, which gives them even more value.
And this becomes a sort of a standard flywheel that we have already worked on right now.