Tonies GmbH – a success story, Expert assistance every step of the way – from start-up to global market leader
Tonies GmbH: Success is child’s play with tailor-made financing solutions
It was an idea that would revolutionise the children’s audio market: combining digital music and storytelling with the haptic appeal of toy figures. The award-winning audio system revolves around the Toniebox, a cube-shaped audio player that is endearingly simple to use: To start a story or song, all you have to do is place a Tonie figure on top of the box. In less than a decade, Tonies has evolved into the world’s largest interactive audio platform for children, with more than nine million Tonieboxes and over 110 million Tonie characters sold. Commerzbank’s advice and financing expertise were essential in paving the way to Tonies’ success, and were carefully tailored to each individual growth stage in the company's evolution from start-up to global player.
The Toniebox and Tonies bring audio stories to life for children. When playing and listening, kids forget the world around them and lose themselves in the realms of imagination. Tonieboxes have no screens or buttons, which makes it easier to focus on listening. They are extremely popular with children and parents alike – and Commerzbank, the bank that has been at our side since day one, has always believed in them too. Commerzbank has shown a tremendous amount of empathy and understands our business model completely. They have provided holistic advice that was expertly tailored to the unique challenges of each growth phase.
CFO tonies SE
When success becomes a business challenge, Growth needs liquidity – Commerzbank develops modular financing concept
The first Toniebox prototype was created in 2015. Following extensive testing and enthusiastic feedback from children and parents alike, the product was launched in 2016. Its intuitive, child-friendly design, coupled with robust, exchangeable figurines, has made the Toniebox and Tonies a bestseller. The Toniebox has won multiple awards, including the Red Dot Design Award, the German Design Award, the iF Design Award and the German Founders Award in the Newcomer category.
This huge success soon threw up various challenges for the company’s management: How could it finance increasing growth expenses for raw materials, licensing, production, market development, sales, etc. during the loss-making start-up phase? Commerzbank proved to be the most important partner to Tonies in this regard. And for Commerzbank, the decisive question was: How can we help Tonies to leverage their full potential?
It was just a couple of lines in our local paper in Dusseldorf: A start-up had unveiled an innovative audio platform for children at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair. As a mother of two children and a Corporate Client Advisor at Commerzbank, I was immediately intrigued. I reached out to Tonies, and that initial conversation was the beginning of our journey together. Today, I’m their Relationship Manager and more excited than ever about their audio platform. In the early years, financing their rapid growth wasn’t always easy. But when you believe in your client’s business model, you find solutions – providing the right financing block for each stage of development. At Commerzbank, we believe in having an in-depth understanding of our clients’ businesses. And we provide holistic advice in a spirit of mutual trust and partnership.
Relationship Manager for Tonies GmbH, Commerzbank AG
First things first: create an account, secure working capital financing and set up factoring, Commerzbank has built a system of financing blocks
Commerzbank assisted the young business early on in its start-up phase by providing working capital financing. The relationship between the Bank and the client was built on open, transparent communication, showing for example that Tonies regularly outperformed its projections. On this basis, it was easy for Commerzbank to realise further projects with the client. As the business became increasingly international – in both procurement and sales – new solutions were needed for international cash management and settlement processes. Global Payment Plus, a professional platform for payment transactions, played a key role here alongside foreign currency hedging in risk management, in particular for US dollar exposures.
With each passing year, the demands on financial management grew increasingly complex, leading to more and more expert input from the financial engineering experts at Commerzbank’s Dusseldorf branch and Frankfurt headquarters. When liquidity tightened during growth, CommerzFactoring, a partner of Commerzbank, was instrumental in easing the situation. The sale of receivables provides relief on credit lines and creates additional financing headroom. Especially in the case of high-growth companies such as Tonies, factoring offers a clear advantage: financing scales in parallel with the receivable seller’s revenues. This makes it easier to manage seasonal spikes while also reducing strain on credit lines and creating greater financial flexibility.
Established as a global player, Commerzbank leads international banking consortium for Tonies
These days, Tonies is “all grown up”. Once a start-up pitching a marvellous audio platform for kids, it is now a high-performing global player. While 98 percent of revenues were generated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2019, with just two percent in the United Kingdom, the picture was a very different one just five years later in 2024: North America led the field (44 percent) followed by Germany, Austria and Switzerland (38 percent) and then the rest of the world (18 percent).
The global nature of Tonies’ business has made it susceptible to disruptions in international trade. These range from unexpectedly high tariffs in the US and potential retaliatory measures from other countries or regions to short-term “deals”, volatile capital markets and uncertain economic outlooks. In this environment, Commerzbank acted as lead arranger for a syndicated loan provided by a group of top-tier international banks, significantly increasing the facility’s volume. This substantial increase reflects the continued trust in Tonies’ business model as well as enhancing its financial firepower and reducing its cost of funding.
As Tonies’ principal bank, Commerzbank remains at its client’s side – in international cash management, in risk management, and when it comes to structuring and implementing financing and factoring solutions. Since Tonies was founded, its collaboration with Commerzbank has grown steadily. And because Commerzbank’s understanding of their clients’ business models allows them to develop an unparalleled expertise and strong sense of partnership, this collaboration has evolved into a solid relationship based on mutual trust.