Darma is a Singapore and Silicon Valley-based startup that has caused me to sit up and take notice. Its smart cushion, which I wrote about before, tracks how you sit, corrects your posture, and offers health guidance through a mobile app.
While the idea sounds great, I’ve seen too many wonderful ideas fail to materialize for a variety of reasons. But Darma appears to be off to a rocking start.
After launching its Kickstarter campaign on October 1, the company has already raised US$84,000 within six hours, over double the initial goal.
Its founder, Junhao Hu, tells me that it has already confirmed about US$500,000 in investments, and could get even more. “We will not raise [further] if we get enough pre-orders on Kickstarter. A few investors are waiting to give us money, so we did not confirm the final amount.”
Then there’s the matter of getting a strong slate of advisors. Hu says that Charles and Kai Huang of Guitar Hero and RedOctane fame have joined the company as advisors, and they’ll take some equity in the startup. Former NASA scientist Joan Vernikos, an expert in preventive healthcare, is also advising the team.
Many Kickstarter projects fumble after getting a large amount of pledges, with manufacturing becoming a severe bottleneck. Darma appears to have the right expertise in place to prevent that. It was a part of HAXLR8R, a Shenzhen and San Francisco-based accelerator for hardware startups.
Darma will retail for US$199. This is one product I can’t wait to try out.
See more: Crowdfunded in China: more air purifiers, more smartwatches, and more kegel trainers
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