Airtame, company that went from obscure Danish startup to crowdfunding hit, has closed a seed financing round for $1.4 million. Lead investors included Danish investment firm SEED Capital and Libratone founder Tommy Andersen. The new capital will be used to expedite a broad market release scheduled for Q2 of this year.
Airtame is hardware that was pitched as wireless HDMI for everyone – everywhere. The simple concept of pairing various devices to mirror screens across virtually all platforms caught a wave of popular support. The crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo original sought a goal of raising $160,000 but closed over $1.2 million – a European record at that time. Backers topped 12,000 at the close. Airtame went on to continue funding leveraging Indiegogo’s forever funding program.
Airtame was recognized in early 2014 at CES receiving recognition as being the Best Startup of CES that year. Engadget called the device “surprisingly intuitive and refreshing …”.
Airtame CEO and co-founder Jonas Gyalokay said of the funding;
“We are extremely excited about this investment,” said Gyalokay. “These funds will go directly towards scaling our operations to meet the overwhelming demand, hiring more employees and continuing to improve our already outstanding product.”
According to company representatives devices began to ship this year with “a little over 3000 units already shipped to backers”. A quick glance at backers comments shows some frustration with shipping delays – a common occurrence in rewards based crowdfunding.
Airtame is described as a “disruptive” wireless solution for connecting devices and computers to screens. The device is said to marry affordability similar to Chromecast and Apple TV, but has the functionality of high-end solutions for enterprises.
The company’s vision is to eliminate the need for the ever growing number of cables. Airtame states it has attracted interest from some major names, such as NASA, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Intel and NBC. AIRTAME is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, Linux,iOS, Android and Windows Phone, and offers an easy-to-use dashboard to manage multiple connections to one screen.
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