{"id":35297,"date":"2023-10-20T14:37:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/buzz-kill-one-of-the-first-tech-crowdfunding-successes-is-in-big-trouble-with-no-robot-dragonfly-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:37:42","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:37:42","slug":"buzz-kill-one-of-the-first-tech-crowdfunding-successes-is-in-big-trouble-with-no-robot-dragonfly-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/buzz-kill-one-of-the-first-tech-crowdfunding-successes-is-in-big-trouble-with-no-robot-dragonfly-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Buzz kill: One of the first tech crowdfunding successes is in big trouble with no robot dragonfly – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One  of the first tech products to raise over $US1 million through crowdfunding is yet to produce the product on the three-year anniversary of the campaign, and has now announced it is currently in deep financial problems.<\/p>\n

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TechJect launched the campaign in 2012 for a robotic dragonfly and eventually received well over $US1 million in a month.<\/p>\n

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The campaign promised to create a robotic insect that could fly like a bird and hover like a dragonfly for only $US99.<\/p>\n

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It was well before crowdfunding became a mainstream avenue for tech companies to find investment, and was the first campaign on IndieGoGo to reach the million dollar mark.<\/p>\n

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But things haven\u2019t gone well for the startup since the campaign, with an update to the campaign page<\/a> saying that while the project isn\u2019t completely in ruins, much more funding is needed for it to continue.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is with a very heavy heart we had to take a pause on the development and look at the big picture of how to overcome the situation,\u201d the announcement says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn the best interest of the entire community, we have to have talks with PayPal and Indiegogo and also have talks with potential partners and dig our way out of this situation for everyone’s benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe sincerely apologize to our supporters about our dismal approach to the finish line, we could finish every part of the system but could not get some parts to work properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As TechCrunch reports<\/a>, it\u2019s another in a line of recent crowdfunding failures, including Pirate3D, a 3D printer that also ran out of money before actually fulfilling the orders.<\/p>\n

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Kickstarter also recently pulled a futuristic razor<\/a> that used lasers from the site because of a lack of a demonstrable prototype.<\/p>\n

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In TechJect\u2019s case, the company is squarely placing the blame for the troubles on PayPal and IndieGoGo for not releasing funds, but hasn\u2019t specified about how much is being held back.<\/p>\n

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TechJect says in the update that if the product ultimately fails to reach the hands of the backers, it will release all of the IP for the robot with \u201cfull license authority\u201d for \u201cuse, re-sale and more\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur teams have put their heart and soul to get you all a solid system,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have now reduced considerably in size and even $1M doesn’t last forever; 3 years of people working, expensive manufacturing, sweat and frowns and hopes and ambitions have all that kept the project going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The announcement begins with a plea for consideration and understanding from TechJect.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSeems there have been a lot of confusing statements and a lot of name calling,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPlease do realize that team and people working hard to realize these systems are at the end of the day people like everyone else. If there is enough pressure, it would lead to a complete collapse and will result in nothing getting disbursed to anyone with no one to support either.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Do you know more on this story or have a tip of your own? Raising capital or launching a startup? Let us know. Follow StartupSmart on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, and <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 One  of the first tech products to raise over $US1 million through crowdfunding is yet to produce the product<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}