Two entities beloved by teens of different eras are joining forces in a new collaboration.
Sway LA, the TikTok creator house comprising Noah Beck, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson, Blake Gray, and Josh Richards, have tendered an investment in the beloved collectible toy brand Sillybandz. While the guys have made a slew of individual investments, this marks Sway’s first stake as a group. The size of the investment was undisclosed.
Sillybandz are silicone rubber bracelets that come in packs of 24, and are sold according to different themes, including animals, holidays, and celebrities (thanks to licensing deals with the Kardashians and Justin Bieber). When not being worn as bracelets, Sillybandz revert to their various original shapes. The product was created by the entrepreneur Robert Croak and rose to popularity in the early 2010s, whereupon they even became traded as collectibles, particularly their rarer iterations.
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Amid the investment, the guys will also endeavor to relaunch the legacy Sillybandz brand. We’ve reached out to Sillybandz about what the new products entail and when they are slated to hit shelves, and will update this piece with any additional information.
The investment also comprises contributions from Johnson and Richards’ business partner, Marshall Sandman, as well as as Michael Gruen and Maxwell Mitcheson — two execs at Sway LA’s parent company TalentX Entertainment.
“We don’t want Sillybandz to just be a throwback legacy company, we want it to be a futuristic and innovative company,” Gruen said in a statement. “To us, we are the custodians of a brand that means so much to so many people worldwide and we have not and will not take that sparsely.”
Richards’ prior investments include cash advance startup Lendtable, charity pet food company Dog For Dog, and faux fur firm UnHide. At the same time, Richards, Johnson, and Beck are all advisors and equity stakeholders in TikTok competitor Triller. Richards and Hall are also the founders of their own Ani Energy drink brand, while Richards and Johnson most recently invested in the nascent influencer marketing platform Breakr.
