Martingale Internet Technologies, publisher of Toy Collector and ToyPedia, announced it has received investment from Robert Dighero, who previously served as Chief Financial Officer at the online auction site QXL ricardo plc (now Tradus plc). He also previously served as CFO at AOL UK.

Dighero said "Toy Collector's combination of social media with a wiki that acts as a catalogue for every toy ever produced and an online marketplace is a powerful mix which has an excellent chance to develop a leading position in this area of the huge collectibles market. Once proven there are many other equally interesting niches which the business could develop into."

Martingale Internet Technologies believes that the dominance eBay has enjoyed in recent years is giving way to Web 2.0 specialist auction sites with strong community elements. Its first community, Toy Collector, offers features such as niche-specific blogs, clubs, directories, competitions, events, forums, friending system, galleries, videos as well as a Wiki-based catalogue of every toy ever produced.

Link to announcement