Rubik's Cube maker Spin Master to acquire creative play tech firm Hapiko

Canadian toy maker Spin Master, which makes Rubik’s Cubes and produces the animated series “PAW Patrol,” has announced the acquisition of U.S. company Hapiko. Its flagship product is Stickerbox, a machine that uses AI to generate images based on children’s spoken descriptions.

Spin Master has agreed to acquire U.S.-based Hapiko, the Canadian firm announced. The parties did not disclose the terms of the deal. The acquisition is valued at $35-50 million, writes the Wall Street Journal. Spin Master shares trade in Toronto and over the counter in the U.S.

The acquisition will allow Spin Master to accelerate its vision for “the future of play,” giving children access to “fun, creative tools to design and bring their imaginations to life in new ways,” CEO Christina Miller said in the announcement.

Stickerbox generates images based on children’s spoken descriptions, which can then be printed as stickers and colored in. The device was created by Arun Gupta, founder of vintage clothing marketplace Grailed, and his colleague Bob Whitney, who also worked at New York Times Games and Anthropic. The device first went on sale in late 2025 and has sold out 13 times since then, according to the press release.

Stickerbox looks like an Etch A Sketch but in the shape of a cube, making it a good match for Spin Master, which also sells Etch A Sketch, the Wall Street Journal noted. “If you brought Etch A Sketch into the future, it might look something like that,” Miller told the newspaper.

Canada’s Spin Master was founded in 1994 by childhood friends Ronnen Harary and Anton Rabie after they graduated from university. Ben Varadi, a former classmate of Rabie’s, joined them shortly afterward.

They started with $10,000 in capital, and their first product was Earth Buddy, a nylon-stocking-covered head filled with sawdust and topped with grass seeds that grew to resemble hair. Earth Buddy generated $1.5 million in sales in its first six months. Harary said in an interview with Business Insider that "youth and lack of experience were the source of his success, not a barrier."

Spin Master now operates in 20 countries across three business segments: toys, entertainment, and digital games. Its best-known brands include “PAW Patrol,” Melissa & Doug, Bakugan, and Rubik’s Cube. In the second quarter, the company’s revenue increased 8.9% year over year to $436.4 million. Net income for the same period came to $29.7 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, versus a net loss of $46.5 million a year before, or $0.46 per share.

News of Spin Master’s acquisition of Hapiko failed to generate much investor excitement. The Canadian company’s Toronto-listed shares fell 0.8% on Monday to CAD20.80 apiece. In over-the-counter trading in New York, the stock was almost unchanged from the previous day at $15.10 per share.

Spin Master has seven “buy” calls from Wall Street versus three “hold” ratings. The average target price is $18.77 per share, implying 24% upside from the last close.