Tech entrepreneurs are increasingly bypassing banks and venture capital for financial backing, and reaching out to the general public via sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
These five high-profile campaigns raised millions, and most of the new gear will soon be in stores or online.
A Helmet with Rear Vision
Skully, which develops vehicle systems technology for the transportation industry, has developed what it calls the “world’s smartest motorcycle helmet.” Its Indiegogo effort raised more than $2.4 million from 1,940 people.
- What got backers so revved up? The AR-1 is brimming with cool techie innovations, including a transparent, head-up display that shows a rearview camera feed. Perhaps more important was Skully’s pulse-pounding, two-minute promotional video. Plus, Skully offered backers who contributed $1,399 first dibs on an AR-1 helmet by May—$100 off the $1,499 list price. Retail preorders are now scheduled for July.
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A Virtual-Reality Headset
In August 2012, Oculus VR launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $250,000 for development of the Oculus Rift, a head-mounted display that immerses the wearer (think gamers) in a 3D virtual world. By the time the campaign ended, more than 9,500 backers had pledged more than $2.4 million. (Facebook bought Oculus last year for about $2 billion.)
- The Rift is still very much a work in progress, but a prerelease version is available to developers who want to create content for the headset, and the consumer edition ($200 to $400) is expected to debut late this year.
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A Smart Watch that Undercuts Apple
Smart watch start-up Pebble passed the hat earlier this year on Kickstarter and raised more than $20.3 million from more than 78,000 backers. Pebble used the cash to bring its Pebble Time ($200) to market. Available this spring, the smart watch, pictured at right, sports a color e-paper display that’s easy to read in sunlight, and it works with Android and iOS phones.
- The big question is how well Pebble Time will compete against the Apple Watch (starting at $350). Price and battery life may be Pebble’s biggest competitive advantages.
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Funky Headphones
The brainchild of University of California–Berkeley alumni Wenqing Yan and Victoria Hu, the Axent Wear headphones come with colorful LED accent lights, over-ear cushioning for comfort, and whimsical “cat ear” speakers for sharing music with friends. Nearly 21,000 Indiegogo backers were so impressed that they pledged almost $3.4 million last year to move the project along.
Priced at $135 (plus $35 for shipping), the Axent Wear headphones are available for preorder, with shipping to begin in early fall. Who’ll buy them? Preteens, hipsters and maybe even Hello Kitty fans.
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A Higher-Quality Portable Music Player
Legendary rocker Neil Young has never been shy about his contempt for most digital audio formats. His solution: Found a start-up, called PonoMusic, which raised more than $6.2 million from 18,220 Kickstarter backers. The result: the $400 PonoPlayer, a triangular iPod alternative that plays better-than-CD-quality tracks. The verdict? Too soon to call (it went on sale in January), but early reviews criticized the PonoPlayer’s high price, odd shape and short battery life.
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