No child’s play: Kiztopia looks to build indoor playground empire in South-east Asia

CHILDREN’S playground and edutainment brand Kiztopia is set for further growth in South-east Asia, after receiving a significant investment from Singapore-based private equity firm Tower Capital Asia.

In October, Tower Capital Asia said it would acquire a majority stake in Kiztopia through investment vehicle Ectivate for an undisclosed sum.

“We need funding to grow faster, and this is a golden time for us,” Kiztopia founder and chief executive officer Heidi Tian told The Business Times in an interview.

Kiztopia has been on a roll both at home and abroad, opening 12 indoor playgrounds since 2023. This brings its total number of playgrounds to 16 across five markets: Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Still, in Tian’s view, Kiztopia is “slightly late” in its expansion plans.

Location-based entertainment has seen a post-Covid surge in demand, she noted, with more operators now entering the region to capture a slice of the pie.

Turning play into a business

The idea for Kiztopia bloomed only after Tian relocated to Singapore in 2012 for work.

The Chinese-born entrepreneur, who was working in wealth management, had earlier been based in the United States and Hong Kong.

As a mother of two toddlers at that time, she found that Singapore lacked children’s entertainment options such as mega indoor playgrounds – which were common in the US.

So Tian created a playland of her own. In 2019, she founded Kiztopia with two business partners and opened its flagship outlet in Marina Square.

Spanning more than 18,000 square feet, it offers 18 play zones, including a “baby supermarket”, ninja obstacle course and ball pit.

When business took a hit during the pandemic, Tian was quick to pivot.

“Play behaviour and consumer spending changed,” she noted. “People no longer came to the city centre any more, and instead, spent time in their neighbourhoods.”

In 2021, she ventured into the heartlands to open smaller-scale indoor playgrounds – under the brand Kiztopia Club – at Jurong Point and Punggol Town Square.

Due to the limited supply of commercial spaces in the heartlands, playgrounds under Kiztopia Club range from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet and offer about eight to 10 play zones. There are four such outlets in Singapore today.

Kiztopia has since rolled out other play concepts to cater to a wider age demographic.

For instance, the year-old SkyPark at Orchard Cineleisure is a sports-oriented arena geared towards older children, featuring activities such as rock climbing and high-element obstacle courses; Kiztopia Prestige at River Valley, which opened in June, offers premium play experiences for toddlers and preschoolers.

Capturing regional opportunity

But as more edutainment operators entered Singapore over the years, Tian saw the need to look outwards.

At the end of 2022, Kiztopia opened its first overseas outlet in Hong Kong.

At the time, Hong Kong’s malls experienced a dip in offline luxury retail sales from the absence of Chinese tourists, noted Tian. Instead, the landlords were seeking tenants that could offer location-based entertainment experiences to pull in crowds.

“We went to Hong Kong in 2019, but the malls were then not so interested in what we had to offer. But post-Covid, the landlords had a very different mindset,” she said. Two more outlets followed in December 2023 and May 2024.

Tian next set her sights on the developing economies of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, noting their rapidly growing populations and rising affluence.

“Their spending power is probably less than half that in Singapore and Hong Kong, but we have volumes there,” she said. Set-up costs – which includes rental and labour – in these developing economies are much lower, she added.

Kiztopia opened its first outlets in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur in September 2024. It opened its third outlet in Thailand on Dec 1, in the city of Hat Yai.

And more are coming, with Tower Capital Asia now on board.

Tian said the new investment will be used to enhance Kiztopia’s operational efficiencies, which includes standardising and streamlining operations across markets to ensure quality control of its offerings.

“We need to have proper formalised processes to scale, so there are many areas to look at from a transformation perspective,” she said.

In Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore, where the Kiztopia brand is relatively more established, Tian aims to open two outlets a year in each market over the next three years.

As for the newer markets of Malaysia and Indonesia, she aims to collaborate with toy retailers or supermarkets to introduce Kiztopia’s play concepts to their spaces.

Plans are now underway to open Kiztopia’s first outlet in Taiwan by 2025. She also intends to venture into Japan and Vietnam, though these are “more complex” markets that require further risk assessment.

“The decision-making process has become a little bit more prudent… In the past, we’d just test and go,” she said. “But in the future, we need to make sure whatever new markets we enter have enough of a critical mass (of consumers) for us to build a team there.”

Other factors to consider include the market’s political stability, ease of incorporating a company there, as well as shipping regulations, given Kiztopia’s infrastructure-heavy line of business, she noted.

Diversifying and innovating

Tian has big ambitions for vertical growth too.

She eventually hopes to transform the company’s outlets into “one-stop destinations” that combine the playground experience with various offerings, such as retail and food and beverage.

Kiztopia’s flagship outlet in Marina Square embodies this vision. To date, the space is the only one with an attached cafe, a party room, a stage for performances and a gift shop for merchandise.

Said Tian: “Take Disneyland for example – you can play, eat, shop, watch shows and see fireworks to wrap things up. We want to curate a similar holistic experience, but in a smaller indoor format.”

Meanwhile, offsite pop-up events have been a lucrative revenue stream, accounting for a fifth of the company’s topline. Such events are more asset-light and seasonal, allowing the brand to keep things novel and fresh for its customers, she noted.

Though she declined to disclose exact figures, Tian expects revenue to grow by about 15 to 20 per cent for the next financial year, driven by the company’s regional expansion.

Another promising area of growth is the development and licensing of Kiztopia’s intellectual property (IP). The company has created eight original animal characters – including a rabbit, chick, tiger and elephant – which are displayed in its indoor playgrounds.

“IP is intangible. While we haven’t monetised IP much yet, it does give us a lot of brand exposure,” said Tian.

Since 2022, Kiztopia has worked with five hotels in Singapore and Hong Kong to design family-themed suites featuring its characters.

In August 2024, it collaborated with travel brand American Tourister to launch a collection of kid-sized luggages, backpacks and travel pillows. Tian is now in talks with two family restaurant chains to launch children’s menus in Singapore.

Her ultimate goal is to create live children’s shows and animations with Kiztopia’s characters by 2030, and have IP licensing form at least 20 per cent of the company’s revenue. “While developing IP takes time and is costly, it’s never off our minds,” Tian added. “We eventually want to grow into an IP company.”