Kano Set to Close Second Kickstarter With Nearly $600,000 in Funds

Less than 48 hours until its second Kickstarter comes to an end, Kano has secured nearly $600,000 from close to 2,200 backers. The tech startup launched the campaign last month to raise $500,000 for its new creative computer systems, which are the following:

• The Camera Kit: a five-megapixel code able camera equipped with a Tripwire Sensor to design flashes/filters, and use data triggers to make images, videos, and gifs.
• The Pixel Kit: a light board that has 128 dazzling pixels and a Tilt Sensor to build games. It also has a visualize real world data sourced from the cloud and create artwork in 1.7 million colors.
• The Speaker Kit: a smart programmable speaker with a Gesture Sensor to record, control and synthesize the user’s own sounds and electronic music.

The kits are powered by a new kind of single-board computer, the “Kano Brain,” which connects to other devices over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They will also have a Kano Sensor, which works with existing USB compatible hardware such as laptops and desktop computers. Each kit also runs with Kano Code, a new coding tool, and Kano World, an online community platform.  Alex Klein, CEO and co-founder of Kano, previously explained:

“Tiny computers and sensors power the pervasive machines that surround us – and yet, only a fraction of us know how to do much more than swipe their surface screens. After bringing our award-winning Computer Kit to 86 countries, there’s no stronger platform to unveil a new kind of computing than Kickstarter, where we brought Kano to life. Our new system takes all ages deeper into the world of physical computing, letting you build and code the world around you with simple steps.”

Reportedly, the project received return support from backer Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, and new support from Nile Rodgers, the Grammy-winning composer and producer. The company previously secured $1,522,160 from 13,387 backers for its small, DIY Raspberry Pi-powered computer. Kano’s latest campaign will close on Thursday (October 27th).