Just a few days after its cat ear headphones’ crowdfunding campaign hit Indiegogo, Axent Wear, which was created by two UC Berkeley alums, has not only surpassed its initial $250,000 goal, but has reached over $796,000 thanks to 5,000 backers. Now the project’s organizers are offering new contests for backers.
On Saturday (October 11th), one of the startup’s creators, Wenqing Yan, took the campaign’s blog and wrote, “Thank you all so much for the unbelievable amount of support! We’re so excited to begin working with our manufacturer to make these headphones come to life. Rest assured we’ll do everything we can to make these headphones as top quality as possible.
“As a special thank you, we’ll be doing contests and giveaways within the next few weeks so be on the look out for your chance to win some free headphones! We’ll be releasing more photos soon as well!”
As previously reported by Crowdfund Insider, the California startup is setting out to make the most unique headphones to have ever hit store shelves. They are considered “glowing, badass” headphones that allow the user to blast their music and express their style. Each set offers high definition sounds and the user is given the option to share music with friends or just keep their favorite beats to themselves.
- Other features of the cat ear headphones include:
- 40mm driver with 20Hz to 20KHz frequency response
- USB charging or 3.5mm jack included
- Comfortable over-the-ears cushion that molds around the head
- Comes in four different colors: blue, red, green, and purple
Yan and co-founder Victoria Hu both have a passion for art and creative technology. Yan was inspired to design the headphones to have cat ears while working on a “whimsical and quirky animation.” Both she and Hu then set out to create the perfect headphones that would fulfill both functionality and style.
They noted, “We have worked tirelessly over the past half a year to bring these headphones from mere drawings to a real life prototype. Thanks to the amazing public support and feedback, we were able to fine tune the prototype and make the adjustments that everyone wanted. While we are a brand new company, we will do our very best to bring everyone the coolest headphones!”
In regard to their dedication, the co-founders wrote,”We are committed to bringing you a great product, and won’t settle for anything less. Thus, during our manufacturing stage, we will actively work with our factory to make sure that everything is up to our standards. We recognize that this might result in a delay in our manufacturing process if complications arise, and we find it very important to make sure that these are shipped in a timely matter, but we will prioritize quality. Rest assured we will notify everyone of what’s going on so there will be no surprises.”
For all backers, U.S. and international, each set of headphones cost $115, plus another $35 for shipping and taxes. With the funds, Yan and Hu will be able to pay for the cost of everything that’s needed to produce the headphones, including molding, casting, production, packaging and shipping. They revealed that the headphones are set to be shipped April, May and June of next year.
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