SAN DIEGO, Calif – In its mission to help kids take a break from their electronic devices and to get outside and play more, AryaBall, a children’s toy company founded by electronics engineer Babak Forutanpour, announced that it had won first place at San Diego’s FundingPost Startup Competition event on Friday Nov 8th, 2013. The contestants vying for the top spot included 30 of the region’s hottest startups pitching to a panel of judges, who included Barbara Bry, Chief Operating Officer at Blackbird Ventures, Terry W. Moore, Founder and Managing Partner at Moore Venture Partners, Derek Walton, an Angel Investor, and Howard J. Leonhardt, Founder & Chairman, Leonhardt Ventures, sponsored by Irvine Company.
After winning first place for its novel toy that allows children and adults alike to play soccer, football, baseball and golf with a single ball and bat, the company also went on later in the evening win first place in the Audience Favorite category. Votes were tallied and certified by Wedgies, Inc.
Watch a video of AryaBall in action here.
“We are thrilled that investors and our peers found our unique 4-in-1 ball and bat worthy of winning in both categories tonight. We feel our products are a step in the right direction in helping families with kids play outdoors more, ” said Owner and Head Coach at AryaBall, Babak Forutanpour. “AryaBall and bat are just the beginning of exciting products we have designed so parents can help their kids enjoy a little less screen time, and a lot more green time!”
AryaBall and bat will be available on Kickstarter.com next month when shooting and editing of their video is complete.
About AryaBall
They say necessity is the mother of invention. AryaBall was formed by California native Babak Forutanpour after getting his 7-year old son Arya to put down (pry off?) the iPad so the two could go to the park together to play some football. When Arya later decided that he wanted to play some soccer as well, the two had to resort to kicking the football around, getting odd stares from passersby. It was on their walk back home, feeling a little deflated (pun intended), that Arya’s dad decided to see if he could build the world’s first multi-sports ball to make their next trip to the park last longer. After buying every size, type and shape of ball at his local sports store, several pounds of clay, a 3D printer, a blowtorch (!), and hours of breathing (hazardous?) polyurethane fumes, the world’s first 4-in-1 sports ball and bat were created.
AryaBall will be looking to raise funding needed to commercialize their unique line of children’s sports equipment on Kickstarter, starting in mid January.
For more information, visit: www.AryaBall.com or on Facebook at Facebook.com/thearyaball or Twitter at Twitter.com/thearyaball or via email, press@aryaball.com
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