Matteo Fabbrini is the CEO and Co-founder of FABA, an Italian-based interactive platform designed for education and entertainment for children whose audio content educates and entertains without the need for screens.
Matteo is also CEO of Maikii, a European leader in promotional consumer electronics, and Exclama, a boutique agency for creating merchandising for companies. He serves as a Board Member for Foodracers, the leading 100% Italian food delivery company, and Gamindo, a fast-growing company that develops branded web video games for companies.
Matteo holds a Degree in Marketing from the Ca ‘Foscari University of Venice.
In your professional career, you have been the promoter of several entrepreneurial initiatives in Italy. Your latest initiative, FABA, is in the Edtech and ‘educational fun’ market for children. What opportunity did you see in the market? What prompted you to establish FABA?
Matteo: FABA started as a project inside Maikii’s retail division, in which we developed and sold in more than 100 countries licensed USB Flash Drive in the 3D shape of the most famous entertainment characters (www.usbtribe.com). We gained a wide experience in licensing and consumer product distribution. Still, that product was going to be obsolete, and at the same time, we were looking for something new, and while many of us were becoming parents for the first time, we approached the kids’ product market.
On the other hand, as parents, we have always been worried about the abuse of screens and screen time and the lack of a device to listen to audiobooks and develop kids’ imaginations. Therefore we saw a niche to fill, and that’s how the project of FABA started.
Now, if you ask me why the name FABA it’s because children often “eat” the I of the word “fiaba” (fairy tale in English)… and why it’s in capital letters? Because children start writing in capital letters only at the first 😊
Thanks to its storytelling, FABA has quickly become the brand of choice in the ‘educational fun’ market. Can you tell us more about the business model of the company? What is your mission?
Matteo: The current product is a simple Bluetooth speaker with NFC technology that enables 3D figurines to start playing content. The contents are fairy tales, songs, music, and even activities like yoga. The business model is simple. Once we have achieved a space in children’s routines, we aim at providing as many different figurines as possible. This is why we have different content aimed at the various stages of children’s growth.
FABA aims at becoming the leading brand in the edutainment market, having all children grow by feeding their imagination, discovering the world while having fun, and, little by little, with care and passion, letting them become the adults of tomorrow.
Our device is, therefore, an educational product, something tangible that children need to learn. And this is indeed why we distinguish ourselves from our main competitors at the European level. Not so much on a technological level but in terms of educational content and teaching.
You recently announced a Series A round, with € 3.7 million invested by Oltre Impact SGR and CDP Venture Capital SGR. What results have you achieved until now? Also, what are the development plans of FABA for the near future?
Matteo: In exactly 3 years, we have been able to launch the product in 3 languages, Italian, French and Spanish. We have more than 150 contents already available, and we will double them by the end of next year. We have sold nearly 100.000 devices, and we plan to launch a second device for next year’s Xmas, which will be aimed at older children than the current version and will also be IoT connected. And many new things are coming, but I can’t spoil everything already. Our focus will be keep being the best support for children’s growth and a parent’s aid.
What are the main challenges you experienced until now? Given your entrepreneurial experience creating new businesses, what would you suggest to founders?
Matteo: Setting up a new company during covid and wars, with economic recession and inflation… well, we didn’t miss anything, I guess 😊
But honestly, there are challenges every day, from the small to the big ones. The key, in my opinion, is to keep the bar strong and pursue your goal, even better if you have a great team, which is my case.
One last question. What is your vision for the edtech industry?
Matteo: The edtech industry is vast. It ranges from adult education to schools or games and devices for children. With FABA, we position ourselves in a niche within a broader landscape.
The Italian edtech industry has recorded a general evolution and growth in the last 12 months, and we expect it to grow further.
Italy is, unfortunately, a country where there is little budget available to spend on new technologies. Therefore, action is needed at the government level to provide more resources to school infrastructure. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to educate and raise children with the most modern tools.
Still, there are many opportunities in the children’s market to create different and more advanced educational modes than today.
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For more info on FABA, visit: https://www.myfaba.com/it/