tonies® Named To Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies 2021 List

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 9, 2021 -- tonies® has been named to Fast Company's prestigious annual list that celebrates the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2021.

The list honors businesses that have not only found a way to be resilient in the past year, but also turned those challenges into impact-making processes. These companies did more than survive, they thrived— benefiting their respective industries and culture as a whole. This year's Most Innovative Companies list spotlights 463 businesses from 29 countries.

"We're proud to be recognized among the best and brightest companies in the world," said Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl, co-founders of tonies. "We, along with our fantastic global team, are inspired everyday to provide imaginative solutions for learning and play to serve children, parents and educators best."

Launched in 2016, tonies® is the original screen-free audio entertainment system designed for children ages 3 years and up. The first-of-its-kind to market, tonies draws on traditional patterns of tactical play interwoven with on-demand digital content to introduce a world of possibility to imaginative children worldwide.

The revolutionary audio system is anchored by the Toniebox, an audio player that is a soft, squeezable cube without complicated controls, buttons, discs or cables. The Toniebox comes to life when paired with Tonies figurines, featuring hours of stories and songs to delight young minds. Tonies' content library offers a robust selection of kid-friendly audio books and musical soundtracks, including classic storybook fairy tales like Pinocchio and Rapunzel, and licensed content from Disney, Universal, Penguin Random House and more.

tonies also offers Creative-Tonies, which can hold up to 90 minutes of recordings of original songs, stories and personalized messages. Popular among kids and parents, Creative-Tonies now play an important role in adapting to the new challenges brought on by the pandemic, including staying connected with loved ones while social distancing, balancing child care with working from home and managing distanced learning while in-person school instruction remains limited.

In 2020, tonies launched the tonies® for teachers program in the U.S., which outfits teachers with Tonieboxes and Tonies to share class instructions and lessons in a novel way. As a perfect alternative to screen-based multimedia, the Toniebox serves as an excellent educational tool for both school and home. Teachers use Creative-Tonies to conveniently provide daily activity summaries, record announcements and give assignments. Participating teachers and families have found the tonies system a welcome solution with classroom management and distance learning. To date, the tonies for teachers program has grown to 500+ participating teachers across the U.S., with more "edutainment" content slated for release in 2021.

"We are honored and humbled to be recognized for our innovation in education and early childhood development and look forward to supporting educators in the US with innovative screen free approaches for in classroom and at home learning," said Christoph Frehsee, tonies USA President. "Over the coming months we will be releasing new educational content and product partnerships that will build upon our unique offerings for families and educators alike."

Fast Company's editors and writers sought out the most groundbreaking businesses across the globe and industries. They also judged nominations received through their application process.

The World's Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company's signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

"In a year of unprecedented challenges, the companies on this list exhibit fearlessness, ingenuity, and creativity in the face of crisis," said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky, who oversaw the issue with Senior Editor Amy Farley.

To coincide with the issue launch, Fast Company will host its first Most Innovative Companies Summit on March 9 -10. This virtual, multi-day summit will celebrate the Most Innovative Companies in business, provide an early look at major business trends, and offer the inspiration and practical insights on what it takes to innovate in 2021.

Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2021) is now available online here, as well as in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning March 16, 2021. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.

ABOUT FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. The editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.