The multipurpose device GOkey closed their crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo this past week after having raised $1,033,492 from 11,846 backers. The flexible funding campaign launched with a goal of raising $40,000 – a paltry figure in contrast to their final number. The $40k was raised in just two days.
GOkey promises to offer a diverse and robust piece of hardware that acts as a connector, battery and locator that is paired with flash memory – all connected to your keychain. As a greater number of people have an ever increasing number of gadgets, the opportunity to combine various functions into a single device struck a goldmine of popular interest crushing their crowdfunding target. It was during the final hours of the campaign that GOkey finally passed the million dollar mile marker now placing the project in the top 15 successful campaigns on Indiegogo.
Funding for hardware devices has quickly rocketed up in prominence in the crowdfunding space. Pretail campaigns are seen as an effective way to prove market demand and raise initial working capital. Feedback from backers is utilized to hone features and improve the product prior to final launch. Pretail has become the preferred approach by innovative makers and entrepreneurs – even when they do not necessarily need funding. GOkey also benefited by the assistance of a professional crowdfunding marketing firm. Agency 2.0 is one of the leaders in the space and has created a highly structured approach to strategically guarantee crowdfunding success – for viable products.
As funding momentum increased, multiple stretch goals were set to boost the campaign with the final stretch set at one million. As more backers poured into the campaign they were quickly enlisted to help market the product with perks and referral bonuses as the crowd was strategically leveraged.
GOkey was founded by Doros Kyriakoulis based in San Francisco. The London Business School educated entrepreneur came up with the concept earlier this year and “gathered talented people to make it a reality”. GOkey is expected to ship in January 2015.
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