← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Yoto

“Can a DTC children's audio hardware brand build a content and community flywheel that sustains global scale without a screen?”

Founded2015
HQLondon, England, UK
FoundersBen Drury, Filip Denker
IndustryE-commerce / DTC brand
The story

Founded in 2015 by two fathers concerned about screen time, Yoto developed a screen-free connected audio player for children controlled by physical NFC-like cards. After a successful 2019 Kickstarter, the company scaled rapidly—doubling each year from 2020—expanding from a UK-only product to multi-market operations in the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and France. The embedded finance stack evolved to match: Tipalti was brought in to automate a previously manual AP process covering 1,200 global suppliers and 500 monthly invoices, while Celigo was used to integrate Shopify, NetSuite, Stripe, and PayPal for global e-commerce operations. Yoto remains a hardware/content DTC brand with no financial services product of its own.

Last 12 months
2025-02
Product timeline
2015
Ben Drury and Filip Denker conceived Yoto, a screen-free audio platform for children, inspired by research on the benefits of audio for child creativity.· pivot
2016
Created first prototype of the Yoto Player, a connected screen-free speaker controlled by physical cards.· pivot
2017
Yoto Limited formally incorporated; began building the product and platform.· pivot
2019
Launched successful Kickstarter campaign bringing the Yoto Player to market; secured early investment.· pivot
2020
Launched second-generation Yoto Player; began doubling in size year-over-year.· pivot
2023
Received backing via British Business Bank Managed Funds Programme to support international expansion to US, Canada and France.· lending
2025
Featured in HSBC Innovation Banking case study highlighting use of HSBC Growth Lending Fund to scale internationally.· banking
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Yoto’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
StripePayPalShop Pay
Unified APIs
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
9 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.