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.