Company offers 500 toys from classics to Bluey to Disney Princesses
After a busy day at work, the last thing mother-of-three Kim Conti wanted to do was spend time sorting and organizing construction trucks, pretend-play toys, puzzle pieces-and those dreadful games that come with dozens of small parts.
"I've spent a lot of time filling bins and boxes with toys, and thinking about the waste that is created when a child outgrows their favorite toys,'' Conti says. "Like many parents, I'm looking for quality playthings for my children and to keep them off the screens as much as possible.''
To help reduce household clutter and save toys from ending up in landfills, Conti has created Orbit Crates, a subscription toy-rental company. The startup has almost 500 toys in stock, from classic wooden toys to Bluey and Disney princesses. The company serves children from newborn to age 6.
Company to Vie for Wolff New Venture Championship
Orbit Crates is one of five UConn-affiliated startups competing in the Wolff New Venture Competition next month. Now in its 10th year, the event is hosted by UConn's Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI) and will award more than $115,000 in prize money, including $30,000 for the first-place finisher. The event, considered the School of Business' pinnacle entrepreneurship challenge, is open to the public. Along with the pitch competition, the event will also feature a startup showcase and a prominent keynote speaker.
Alycia Chrosniak, CCEI's Assistant Director of Brand & Venture Development, notes that this year's five finalist startups are all women-founded.
"It speaks to the strength of the entrepreneurial pipeline we've built here at UConn and the power of diverse leadership in shaping the future of business,'' she says.
U.S. Kids Consume 40% of World's Toys
Conti started her business in 2023, initially serving friends, family, and some social media acquaintances. In the last 18 months, she and her team have focused heavily on customer needs. She left her full-time job in January to run Orbit Crates. In May, the formal subscription service began and already the company has a growing number of active subscribers.
"We found that initially parents want everything to be new, but after about three months, as children begin reaching development milestones, parents don't care if a toy is new or not,'' she says. Orbit Crates carries high-quality, name-brand toys, most built in the United States or in Europe.
Although the United States is home to just 3% of the world's children, American youngsters consume 40% of the world's toys, Conti says. She hopes to help eliminate overconsumption and household clutter. Resale businesses will often take gently used toys, but if they don't sell in about a week, they usually go in the trash. Discarded toys contribute roughly 6% of the waste in landfills.
Each toy is sanitized and examined for wear before it is placed in the subscription box. Parents are billed monthly and can keep a toy as long as it holds their child's interest. Once they return them, they can select a new set of toys.
"I think our No. 1 value is we're driving quality time and purposeful play, keeping kids off screens, and minimizing the work that goes into managing 'toy clutter.' We're helping children connect with their parents and their siblings,'' Conti says. "We're also teaching children about the value to passing along their toys to another child when they're finished with them.''
'Orbit Crates' is a UConn-Driven Business
CCEI selected Conti to participate in its Summer Fellowship Accelerator this year. The eight-week program provides intensive startup support through mentorship, workshops, pro bono services, and $15,000 in non-dilutive funding. Designed to help entrepreneurs successfully grow their businesses, it also coaches them to avoid many of the common pitfalls that challenge early-stage startups.
Conti, who previously worked in customer strategy, tech and innovation, says the courses and mentorship were invaluable. Financial planning was never one of Conti's strengths, but at the Summer Fellowship Accelerator she was able to deepen her knowledge and developed more confidence in her financial plans.
Her team has leaned on UConn expertise to grow. Business graduate student Gomathi Ramachandran served as the company's program manager and educational advising intern. She was introduced to Conti by CCEI Executive Director Jennifer Mathieu. Chris Sindoni '26 (BUS), who is majoring in management information systems, serves as a database intern, building a proprietary database that helps support the inventory tracking. Kayla Rushforth '26 (BUS), a senior majoring in digital marketing and design, ran the company's social media account last summer. And Isaac Field '25 (BUS) is the company's data scientist, using AI to give customers personalized recommendations for toys.
If Orbit Crates wins the grand prize at the Wolff New Venture Competition, Conti says she will invest the money in marketing and advertising, scaling the operations, including a potential warehouse or pop-up shop, and expanding tech capacity.
"Entrepreneurship is a personal endeavor,'' she says. "It challenges you to be resilient and to work on weaknesses you might otherwise ignore. The biggest reward is feeling that you're growing, both personally and professionally."
The Wolff New Venture Competition will be held on Oct. 23 at The 1390 at Parkville Market in Hartford from 5 to 9 p.m. The event is free to attend, and all are welcome but pre-registration is required at https://luma.com/oi517nfo. The original event offered one $15,000 prize and in the ensuing years has grown exponentially. This year's event will also showcase 40 previous winners and feature a prominent keynote speaker.
The Wolff New Venture Competition is supported thanks to the generosity of the Wolff Family Fund for Strategic Entrepreneurship, as well as wiggin(x), Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina LLP, Sardilli Produce and Dairy Co., Prime Materials Recovery Inc., Baystate Financial, Webster Bank, Mark and Jamie Summers, Eric Marziali, Bob and Linda Delisle, Dick and Carol Stewart and Event Resources.
