Nex, the company behind the Nex Playground active-play console, announced more than $150 million in new equity and debt financing. This Series E round supports international expansion, inventory/supply chain needs, go to market efforts, content growth, and scaling operations amid strong U.S. momentum.
Nex’s recent $150 million round is a Series E co-led by Baillie Gifford and BAI Capital. Participants include NBA Investments, Logitech, Medici Capital Partners, and the Raine Group. Nex also secured a new credit facility with JPMorgan. Roughly half the total is equity and half debt, reflecting the capital intensity of hardware production, inventory builds for global rollout, and higher component costs (including memory shortages affecting the broader console industry).
PitchBook data indicates prior raises included a $13M Series A (2019) and $25M Series B (2021), with total capital raised reaching approximately $218M after this round (figures vary slightly by source depending on inclusion of debt or earlier rounds). The Raine Group acted as exclusive financial advisor; Wilson Sonsini provided legal counsel.
Baillie Gifford highlighted the long term potential of Nex’s model: a console that makes active family play easy, paired with a subscription library that builds lasting relationships and compounds value. BAI Capital noted the scalability of combining proprietary AI powered motion technology/hardware with content and recurring revenue.
Nex Playground has surpassed 1 million units sold. It is available in more than 7,000 U.S. retail locations, including Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. The subscriber base (Play Pass) has grown sevenfold over the prior 18 months and is approaching 1 million active subscribers, with expectations to exceed that by year end 2026. This converts one-time hardware purchases into ongoing relationships through new content.
The platform offers more than 60 games spanning music, sports, fitness, party, and learning, featuring licensed properties such as Bluey, Barbie, Kung Fu Panda, Peppa Pig, and others. Upcoming titles include NFL Flag, Dude Perfect Trickshot Challenge, PAC-MAN (with Bandai Namco), and additional partnerships. External developers are engaging; for example, Smoking Gun Interactive’s Freefall Racers (originally a Kinect title) was adapted and quickly reached strong engagement metrics. Nex emphasizes selective partnerships focused on multi-generational accessibility, shared play, engagement, and safety (no ads, no in-app purchases).
Pricing has risen over time (from an earlier ~$199–$249 range to around $299 in some markets, with UK pricing at £269 and Germany planned at €319), driven partly by component costs. An annual Play Pass subscription adds further recurring revenue.
Leadership Additions
Jeff Shouger joined as CFO and board member. He previously served as CFO of Niantic (where he led capital raises and helped oversee the sale of the games business to Scopely) and held senior finance roles at Zynga (including during its IPO and growth phase), with earlier experience at EA. Bing Gordon, a veteran gaming and technology executive, also joined the board. Gordon was an early Electronic Arts executive and later Chief Creative Officer, then a long time Kleiner Perkins partner focused on consumer tech and gaming; he previously served nearly 15 years on Amazon’s board.
CEO and co-founder David Lee described the investment as enabling Nex to become a “100-year company” by bringing active play to millions more families globally, while noting the new executives’ experience building enduring businesses. President Thomas Kang has highlighted that the UK launch is beating forecasts.
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How will Nex use the funds?
Primary uses include:
- International expansion: Germany later in 2026; Japan and Korea in 2027; continued focus on the U.S., UK, and Ireland; broader Europe and Asia to follow.
- Inventory, supply chain resilience, and go to market support.
- Content ecosystem growth and new features such as Connected Play (enabling play across households/distances).
- Scaling operations to match consumer demand.
Nex positions the Playground as a controller free, AI/camera based motion system that turns passive screen time into active, multi generational family play, distinct from traditional gaming consoles and more akin to a modern evolution of Kinect/Wii-style experiences targeted at families rather than core gamers.
The raise occurs against a selective investment environment in gaming and interactive entertainment, underscoring investor confidence in Nex’s traction. Hardware sales have been notably strong in holiday periods (including outselling Xbox in the U.S. during parts of the 2025 holiday window in some reports), with ongoing growth in 2026. The combination of hardware reach, high subscription conversion/retention signals, licensed content pipeline, and long term oriented investors (Baillie Gifford’s horizon emphasis aligns with Lee’s category building view) supports ambitions to scale into a durable platform.
Challenges include hardware cost pressures (memory and components), the need to sustain content depth and discovery as the library grows, licensing economics, and competition from broader entertainment platforms offering lighter party/family experiences. Analysts have noted the device occupies an additive “family/active play” niche rather than directly competing head to head for the same dollars as traditional consoles, while cautioning that continued success will depend on software/content strength as the value proposition evolves with pricing.
The $150M+ package provides substantial resources for Nex to professionalize finance and governance, fortify its supply and retail footprint, accelerate geographic and feature expansion, and deepen its content and community model at a moment of proven product market fit in the family active-entertainment category.
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