Funko
Funko Inc. is an American company that manufactures licensed and limited pop culture collectibles, known for its licensed vinyl figurines and bobbleheads. In addition, the company produces licensed plush, action figures, apparel, accessories and games. Founded in 1998 by Mike Becker and Claudia Becker, Funko was originally conceived as a small project to create various low-tech, nostalgia-themed toys. The company's first manufactured bobblehead was of the Big Boy restaurant mascot.
First sold in 2005, Funko, Inc. is, as of August 2025, headed by CEO Josh Simon. Since then, the company has increased the scope of its toy lines and signed licensing deals with major companies such as Warner Bros., Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, Disney, Sony, Shueisha, Marvel Entertainment, and Major League Baseball.
History
Funko was founded in 1998 by toy collector Mike Becker at his home in Snohomish, Washington. He started the business after failing to find an affordable coin bank of the Big Boy Restaurants mascot, instead licensing the rights to make his own coin banks from a Big Boy franchise in Michigan. The coin banks failed to sell and the franchise filed for bankruptcy protection, but Funko remained in business after licensing the rights to bobbleheads for Austin Powers, which sold 80,000 units. After this, some of the first characters that Funko sold were the Grinch, Tony the Tiger, and Cheerios mascot, the honeybee. In 2005, Becker sold Funko to Brian Mariotti who moved its offices to Lynnwood, Washington, and significantly expanded its licensed product lines. In 2011, Funko began selling their Pop! Vinyl line of figurines. By 2012, the company had sold more than $20 million of merchandise.The company was sold to Fundamental Capital, a private equity firm, in 2013 to raise funds. ACON Investments, LLC announced in late 2015 that it had acquired Funko from Fundamental Capital, LLC, but would keep current staff and the head of the company.
By late 2016 it had outgrown its original headquarters in Everett and announced plans to move into a downtown building with more space and a retail store. Funko acquired British toymaker Underground Toys, also its European distributor, in early 2017. Funko opened its new headquarters and flagship store in downtown Everett on August 19, 2017. Funko was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange on November 2, 2017, but suffered the worst initial public offering of the 21st century, with shares falling by 40 percent and only raising $125 million.
In June 2017, Funko acquired the fashion accessories line Loungefly.
The company opened its second storefront in November 2019, located in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It has of space and includes life-size statues and movie "sets".
In June 2022, Funko acquired Mondo, a high-end pop culture company.
In 2022, Funko expanded its global presence by opening its first franchise store outside of the United States in Dubai Hills Mall, UAE. This store was followed by two additional stores in 2023, one at Dubai Mall and the other at Reem Mall in Abu Dhabi. All stores are operated and managed by Monkey Distribution, Funko's official distributor in the MENA region.
In 2023, Funko opened a store front in partnership with rapper Snoop Dogg called the “Dogg House.” Located next to So-Fi Stadium in California, the store sold exclusive Funko Pop Vinyl figures and had a Funko themed mural.
In March 2023, Funko announced that an excess of old inventory would be disposed of due to limited warehouse capacity.
In September 2025, Funko would surpass 1,000,000,000 pop vinyl figures being sold.
In November 2025, Funko would state that the company may not last much longer due to over production and poor sales. In the past 9 months, they suffered a net loss of $68.1 million dollars.
Production
Products are designed at the Funko headquarters in Everett, Washington, and in other locations throughout the U.S. New figures are designed with input from licensors, in-studio artists, and fans through social media. Funko artists use ZBrush to create digital models that are revised before being made into prototype sculptures, which are sent for approval from manufacturers and licensors. The completed figures are manufactured at factories in China and Vietnam.Product lines
Funko has produced thousands of products across dozens of different toy lines since its inception. The first, Wacky Wobblers, was a line of bobbleheads depicting various characters, mainly from popular culture, such as Betty Boop, Cap'n Crunch, and The Cat in the Hat. The company's mascot, a recurring character in the Funko franchise, is Freddy Funko, who was introduced in 2002.Pop!
In 2010, the Funko Pop! line was created. Funko Pop! vinyl line are figures modelled in a style similar to the Japanese chibi style. The figures have large squarish heads, disproportionately small bodies, and large, circular black eyes. The figures typically depict licensed characters from franchises such as Doctor Who, Marvel, DC, Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Wizarding World, Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia and other pop culture entities. After a preview line of DC Comics characters were released at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010, the original Funko Pop! line of products was fully revealed in 2011 at the New York Toy Fair.The exaggerated body proportions of Pop! figures have invited comparisons with Good Smile’s Nendoroid figures, which are similarly described as "chibi". Both product lines depict characters from many different franchises.
Most Funko Pop! figures are not bobbleheads, as their heads do not move. However most Marvel figures, and all Star Wars and Genshin Impact figures are bobbleheads. The Star Wars and Marvel packaging describes them as bobbleheads to avoid licensing conflicts with Hasbro and the Good Smile Company, who own the respective rights to produce figures of these franchises. The Genshin Impact products are labelled as figures, as no such conflict exists.
Various other products have been released using the Pop! brand and its character stylization, such as plush toys, T-shirts, keychains, and ceramic mugs, the latter of which are enlarged, hollow copies of a figure's head, with a handle attached.
The Funko Pop! line also has figures that are larger than the standard figure, in 6-inch, 10-inch, 18-inch, and the now-retired 9-inch size. Within the Funko Pop! product line, there is a series known as Pop! Rides, featuring the Funko Pop! figure in a vehicle. In addition, Funko produces Pop! Deluxe, where a character is seated on external set pieces, such as a throne, a vehicle, or creature. With Pop! Comic Covers line, Funko has also begun creating movie and comic moments, which feature posed Pop! figures interacting with each other and on display bases in ways that replicate moments from different movies and comic books. The Pop! Albums line features artists with their album covers. At the New York Toy Fair 2019, Funko announced a new line of Pop! vinyl figures: Pop! Town, initially including Ghostbusters, Scooby-Doo, SpongeBob SquarePants, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. This line includes a Pop! vinyl figure alongside a stylized version of a landmark building from the source material.
Other Funko products currently on the market include a variety of collectible toy lines such as Vinyl Soda, Vinyl Gold, Popsies, Ad Icons and stuffed Plushies made to resemble their stylized array of toys. Funko also owns Loungefly, a line of collectible mini-bags and purses that feature popular characters and designs from franchises including Harry Potter, Hello Kitty and Disney princesses, the latter of which are sold at official Disney stores and parks.
Funko product lines of the past that have since been discontinued or are no longer in production include Dorbz, VYNL, Rock Candy, Hikari, Spastik Plastik, Blox, FunkoVision, Funko Force, ReAction Figures, Wacky Wisecracks and Wacky Wobblers.