Pebble Time Smartwatch Hauls in Record-Breaking $20 Million on Kickstarter
What’s cooler than the world’s coolest cooler? More popular than the Oculus Rift? Able to leap previous crowdfunding records in a single bound?
The Pebble Time, that’s what.
(Pebble/Kickstarter)
Last night, Pebble concluded the Kickstarter campaign for its new watch, the Pebble Time, generating in excess of $20 million dollars from more than 78,000 smartwatch enthusiasts. Nearly all of the funding came from pre-orders of the product, which is scheduled to become available starting in May.
Related: Why I Preordered a Pebble Time Right Before the Apple Watch Announcement
The Time blew past what is now the second-most-funded Kickstarter project, the $13.3million Coolest Cooler, in early March. That in turn thoroughly demolished the record held by the original Pebble Watch. Launched in April 2012, the Pebble raised nearly $10.3 million and was the first real indication that smartwatches were here to stay.
(Pebble/Kickstarter)
Some 20 percent thinner than the original, the Pebble Time adds a color e-paper display, can show your daily timeline on the watch face, and lets you reply to texts and take notes via voice. Pebble is claiming seven days of battery life for the $199 Pebble Time and 10 days for the $299 Pebble Time Steel. Both are compatible with the more than 6,500 apps in the Pebble store.
Related: 10 Things You Must Know Before Investing in That Crazy Crowdfunding Scheme
Technically, however, Pebble Time is not the most successful crowdfunding project of all time. The video game “Star Citizen” has raised a total of more than $76 million so far — all but $6.2 million of it via the game’s own website. That feat earned “Star Citizen” a Guinness World Record.
The Time also cannot boast the highest total number of Kickstarter supporters. Just shy of 220,000 people kicked in $20 or more to launch the Exploding Kittens card game.
(Exploding Kittens/Kickstarter)
That record seems safe — at least until the next Pebble watch launches.
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