Navdy, a Heads Up Display or HUD for your car has announced a $6.5 million seed round investment led by Upfront Ventures. It was reported the funding round was “highly oversubscribed” closing at about 3 times the original goal of $2.4 million. Navdy ran a very successful pretail crowdfunding campaign that set a low bar goal of generating $60,000 in presales. The Navdy campaign, accompanied with a polished pitch video, ending up 
raising $3 million according to a statement by the company. The pitch video has been viewed over 750,000 times (see below). Backers signed up to receive a Navdy, also described as Google Glass for your car, for $299. Navdy continues to be available for preorder on the company’s site.
Navdy was founded by entrepreneur Doug Simpson and serial inventor Karl Guttag. In 2013 it went through noted incubator program Highway 1, part of the PCH International portfolio. Highway 1 is a San Francisco based innovation shop that has generated multiple, highly successful consumer products.
As a greater number of consumers depend on their smartphones to act as in car computers providing GPS services, voice to text etc, Navdy saw an opportunity to provide a more complete and robust feature set that works in any car as it is plug and play. The cool technology generates a transparent image directly within your field of view that appears to float six feet in front of your windshield so the driver may maintain focus on the road while viewing navigation instructions, incoming calls, speed, etc. No more quick glances on the iPhone for directions or other information…
Navdy will use this new round of funding to hire additional software and hardware talent and scale up its 
manufacturing plans.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with an array of different investors of such high pedigree that all share our vision of making using your phone in the car easier, safer and more intuitive” said Navdy CEO and co-founder Doug Simpson.
Steven Dietz, Partner at Upfront Ventures commented on their new investment;
“Navdy improves driving safety by keeping your eyes on the road and using GPS to identify appropriate times to display selected information. We are thrilled to be supporting a business that has great potential and makes life safer and more fun.”
Many other well known names participated in the funding round including;Ludlow Ventures, Lightbank, Promus Ventures, MESA+ I, Eniac Ventures, Wareness.io. Early angel investors involved with Navdy include; notable: Shervin Pishevar, Brad Feld, Eric Ries, Naval Ravikant, Semil Shah, Don Norman, and Dan Shapiro.
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