On Tuesday, tech company Pebble once again returned to crowdfunding giant Kickstarter for 3 new products Pebble 2, Time 2 and Pebble Core. Within 24 hours, the new campaign not only smashed its initial $1 million goal, it has already surpassed $6.7 million from nearly 36,000 backers.
Last year, Pebble hit Kickstarter for its watch, Pebble Time, and surpassed its initial goal within just mere hours. By the end of its funding round, the startup gained $20,338,986 from 78,471 backers, which made its initiative the most funded project on the crowdfunding giant’s platform. The company previously found success on Kickstarter during its first campaign and achieved $10,266,845 from 68,929 backers.
Each new product offers up a new way for users to enjoy Pebble’s famous technology:
- Pebble 2 ($109): Offers up an upgraded version of Pebble that includes a sleep tracker and an uncompromising heart rate monitor.
- Time 2 ($179): Described as a premium heart rate enabled stainless steel smartwatch with an updated color display.
- Pebble Core ($79): For runners, it is a flippable fitness device that lets users leave their phones at home. For hackers, it is a keychain company that becomes a “magic button for anything” (i.e. call uber, monitor pets, stream data from car ODB port). It is known as ultra-compact, ultra-lightweight, and ultra-affordable.
Features of Pebble products are the following:
Water resistant for 30 meters- Compatible with iOS and Android
- Offers always-on display that’s readable indoors and out
- Great battery life: Up to a week on Pebble 2, up to 10 days on Time 2
- Music control
- Over 13,000 apps and watchfaces available
Pebble will ship Pebble 2, Time 2 and Core worldwide, with the exception of Argentina, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Myanmar/Burma, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
Before its new crowdfunding success, Pebble seemed to struggle. In March, the company reportedly laid off 25% of its staff. CEO Eric Migicovsky admitted to the layoffs and blamed the “chilly fundraising environment” in Silicon Valley for the cuts.
“We’ve definitely been careful this year as we plan our products. We got this money, but money [among VCs in Silicon Valley] is pretty tight these days.”
Migicovsky also offered up good news at the time. Pebble will start selling its products in India next month through Its new partnership with Amazon. He commented:
“We want to be careful. Pebble is in this for the long haul. We have a vision where wearables will take us in five to 10 years, and this is setting us up for success.”
Although it seems that funding isn’t easy to come by in Silicon Valley, competitors do not seem to be a big issue for Pebble. While discussing Apple’s impact on the wearable tech sector last November, Migicovsky stated that Pebble has experienced “no material impact” from Apple’s entry into the smartwatch business. Pebble is apparently selling 2 times more watches in 2015 than 2014. He also described Apple as the Tag or Rolex of smartwatches. Pebble wants to be the swatch-like competitor.
The new campaign is set to close on June 30th.
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