AryaBall LLC,
a toy company founded by father of 7-year old twins Babak Forutanpour, has just
launched the world’s most versatile sports ball and bat on January 29th. The
toy allows kids to play soccer, football, baseball, golf and flying disc with
just a single convenient ball and bat. AryaBall’s mission is to help kids
across the country be more active, through the introduction of fun and
innovative outdoor products. Seeing how his own children were becoming overly
consumed by their portable electronic Internet and gaming devices, AryaBall was
created to help families enjoy a little screen time, and a lot more green time.
“When I was growing up during the 70s, my friends and I
would play in the streets, hike the canyons, build forts, shoot BB guns, ride
our Mongoose or Red Line BMX bikes, experiment, or just wander.” say Babak
Forutanpour. “I remember when my mom use to yell for me to
come inside for dinner, and I would shout back that I needed 5 more minutes.
Today, I can’t even get my kids to go outside to play, let alone scream at them
to come back in!” How
times have changed, he adds.
The inspiration for the all-in-one ball came one Sunday last
January when Babak and his son Arya were at the park throwing the football
around, and the two had to cut their trip short because when Arya asked if they
could play some soccer too, his dad had to explain to not having brought the
other ball. Feeling a little deflated on their walk back home,
Babak decided to go into his garage and see if he could build his son the
perfect ball. After buying a 3D printer, a slew of foam
balls, a blow torch, and numerous prototypes later, the nested ball design and
bat with swing-out golf head, were born. When
Babak and his twins took their creation to the park to play, the reaction from
other children and their parents was overwhelming. Some even wanting to buy the
prototype on the spot.
Since its creation, AryaBall and bat have gained a lot of
support from kids and their parents, won numerous awards, and their story has
been picked up by several morning TV programs:
on Good Morning San Diego, KUSI Channel 9
on San Diego Living, The CW Channel 6
first out of 35 startups at FundingPost San Diego 2013, by 5 VC Judges and
again as Audience Favorite
as 1 of 10 startups to pitch the main stage at Annual San Diego Entrepreneur
Week
For more information and to set up an interview with the
founder, email Babak at babak@aryaball.com.
the movement on Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aryaball/aryaball-dad-designs-fun-5-in-1-sports-ball-and-ba,
or simply bit.ly/5in1ballbat.
engineering at UCLA, earning his Masters in Computer Science, ’94. He has spent
his 20-year career working at Warner Bros and Disney, where his visual effects
work was featured in The Iron Giant,Space Jam and X-MEN, and currently at
Qualcomm, where his scientific research has been awarded over 90 patents
pending or granted.
