Toucan Box, a subscription-based arts and crafts delivery service for children, has its eye on the grown-up crafts market.
The startup recently secured £2.7m financial backing from the Business Growth Fund, which will enable Toucan to expand its range of available products and pursue expansion in the UK and overseas.
Toucan has been growing at 20 per cent month-on-month since it was set up in 2012 and recently topped more than a million boxes delivered.
The craft kits cost around £5 each and are aimed at children aged three to eight-years-old.
Each box comes with a different theme, and is filled with inexpensive materials such as lollipop sticks and cardboard tubes, along with a set of instructions for children to turn into home-made toys such as a paint-your-own Mondrian or a puppet of the Queen.
The kits have proved a surprise hit with parents, and Toucan say they are now planning a range of activity boxes for grown-ups.
“A lot of parents have told us they want a box for adults,” said Charlès-Dear, a French born economics graduate. “Arts and crafts have come back with the growth of Instagram and Pinterest, but people find it quite hard to make things from scratch.”