Wow! Stuff, which manufactures the Disney-licensed RealFX Stitch Puppetronic plush that won last year’s Toy of the Year Award, has secured a significant investment as part of its acquisition by European toy distributor Troy Companies. 

Wow! Stuff will use the capital raised in the deal and Troy’s distribution network to rapidly scale its retail footprint across Europe and expand into more markets worldwide. For its part, Troy views this acquisition as an opportunity for its toy subsidiaries to compete at the same level as other major toycos. 

Troy says it doesn’t plan to alter Wow! Stuff’s existing management and innovation teams, in order to maintain the company’s creative direction. This means co-founder and president Richard North (pictured right) and managing director Dawn Lavaletter (pictured left) will remain in place as they aim to accelerate the company’s growth by 200% over the next two years. 

Looking ahead, Wow! Stuff is on a mission to expand its trademarked Puppetronics plush range with more licensed characters. It rolled out a toy that embodies How to Train Your Dragon‘s Toothless earlier this month to coincide with the theatrical premiere of DreamWorks’ live-action remake.

In addition to its latest acquisition, Troy also operates arts & crafts maker Creative Craft Group and educational games company W&O Products. Troy itself is a leader in the fast-moving apparel and home products space and has licensing deals in place with Disney, Sesame Workshop, Warner Bros. Discovery, Universal and Paramount.