Having launched a Kickstarter campaign for smart device Ambi Climate last week, with a goal set at US$25,000, Hong Kong-basedAmbi Labswas in for a treat.
In less than nine hours, the firm managed to snag enough pledgers to hit US$30,600. Today, the campaign is already more than 300 per cent funded, with 31 days to go.
“If we can reach US$75,000, we will provide a web interface to supplement the companion app,” it wrote on its official Kickstarter campaign page, adding, “Now you can monitor your AC while at work, teach your kids how to use ‘Ambi Mode’ on the family iPad or show your mom how to access her Ambi Climate on her laptop.”
Furthermore, if the firm reaches US$100,000, it will integrate Ambi Climate with IFTTT and provide an open API, it also wrote. This will allow further automation, and enable users to build what the company calls “your home of the future”.
For background, Ambi Climate is a device that uses predictive climate control by monitoring both indoor and outdoor temperatures to maximise energy use. It is compatible with iOS and Android devices.
Among the 509 backers on Kickstarter, over 250 locations were tracked. The reason for this is that only half had provided their location on their profiles on the platform. Martin Kessler, CMO, Ambi Labs, told e27 that out of these 250 locations, 50 per cent of backers hail from Asia, about 24 per cent are from North America, about nine per cent are from Australia, eight percent are from Europe, and seven per cent in the Gulf Area.
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The device was first launched on Singapore-based Asian crowdfunding site Crowdtivate, which was developed and rolled out by telecom company StarHub . Its inaugural campaign on Crowdtivate was not quite successful, with 98 funders generating S$16,972 (about US$13,574). Its goal was set at S$50,000 (about US$39,990).
“After a failed attempt at Crowdtivate, we went back to the drawing board and looked at things that worked and those that didn’t,” said Kessler. He reasoned that while Ambi Labs has a “strong community” behind Ambi Climate, most people still do not know about the product and the value proposition it offers. “To add fuel to the fire, with Crowdtivate, we went with a new and relatively unknown crowdfunding platform.”
That was a valuable lesson for the company, as it improved marketing materials to communicate a more polished value proposition. “All in all, we are glad we went with Crowdtivate first as it allowed us to refine our message in an almost isolated sandbox environment. After all, this is what startups are all about — learn, measure and build,” he said.
Going forward, the Echelon 2014 People’s Choice Award winner will be shipping Ambi Climate and launching its companion app by June 2015. Due to popular demand, backers who want to receive the device (which comes at a US$50 retail discount) by June 2015 will have to pledge US$99 or more. Those outside the US will have to pay an extra US$10 shipping fee.
At the moment, Ambi Labs has a headcount of 14: two hardware engineers, six people in marketing, design, finance and business development, five in software engineering and machine learning, and one in office management.
