If it’s slimy, noisy, strange or smelly, kids are going to love it.

That’s what Miguel Pina Martins realised 10 years ago when he was searching for a new career. He felt that kids were not getting what they needed from science toys, so he quit a promising job in finance and started his own company to offer something different. “I threw all the money I had into my new project,” says Martinsn.

“We tried to find things that kids might enjoy, like making soap, making slime, making a rocket, making candy, making an explosion, and then also showing them how to do it in a new way.”

Today, his company, Science4You, based near Lisbon, offers hundreds of toys and employs more than 200 people. In 2008, the company’s sales were EUR 54,000. In 2017, sales were expected to hit EUR 20 million.

Pushing science toys to the limit

So what did Martins do that was different? He made science toys funnier and quirkier. He gave the toy kits names like Explosive Science, Rocket Factory or Slimy Factory Slippery Slugs. His concept grew out of a final project at university in Lisbon, where the assignment was to find a new market for scientific toys. “We tried to find things that kids might enjoy, like making soap, making slime, making a rocket, making candy, making an explosion, and then also showing them how to do it in a new way,” he says.

Martins’ toys are amusing and even silly, but they also teach children about science, chemistry and physics, while improving creativity and social skills. The games also foster curiosity and an awareness of the child’s surroundings. The company publishes the Little Scientist blog, which teaches children why they yawn, why mosquitoes bite and why triangles are important.

The EIB made a EUR 10 million loan to help Science4You grow. The loan is part of the Investment Plan for Europe, which aims to boost smaller, innovative companies that commercial banks view as untested or too risky. “Science4You is a fast-growing company that began as an academic project, and every year they have been growing and showing positive financials,” says Francisco Alves da Silva, the EIB loan officer who made the deal. Science4You will combine the EIB loan with EUR 10 million of its own money to invest in better equipment to assemble toys, improve online sales and promotions, and come up with new toy ideas. The company, which sells 40% of its toys in Portugal, will also use the financing to expand in Europe and beyond.

Maximising cognitive capabilities

Besides perfume, soap and slime, Science4You offers toy kits on spas, medicine, dinosaurs, chemistry, rockets, explosions, crystals and cooking. Each kit is based on scientific studies and comes with colourful, detailed guidebooks explaining the experiments and the research.The company is even playful in its advertising. Its videos for Perfume Factory, Lipstick Factory or Explosive Science show a scientist pouring one liquid into another liquid and then sending his laboratory up in smoke. “We believe we have hit the right balance between education and fun, when Mum and Dad buy an educational toy and when the kids really want to play with it,” Martins says. “It’s always very hard to find this balance.”