Pebble Time Kickstarter Campaign Ends With Record $20 Million Raised
The most successfully funded campaign in the history of Kickstarter (in terms of amount raised) belongs to a smartwatch. That was true a few weeks ago when the Pebble Time smartwatch raised over $17 million from more than 67,000 backers with 18 days remaining, and now that the crowdfunding period is over, the new record to beat is $20,338,986!
Nearly 78,500 backers opened up their virtual wallets to support the effort, 142 of which contributed at least $5,000 for the "Distributor" reward tier, the highest tier available. In exchange, those 142 backers will all receive 10 Pebble Time smartwatches in each of the three available colors for a total of 30 smartwatches each. By our not-so-fuzzy math, that comes out to $166.67 per watch.
Pebble Time was a success from the start. It took a mere 17 minutes to reach its funding goal, and had raised almost $6 million in the first five hours alone. At over $20 million at the end of the funding period, Pebble Time obliterated the previous record of $13.3 million for the Coolest Cooler.
One thing that helped Pebble Time raise so much money is that the team introduced a higher priced premium "Pebble Time Steel" version with a bigger battery and new timeline interface about a week after the Kickstarter page went live. Not only did this attract new backers, but it also prompted existing ones to go back and upgrade their funding commitment.
If all goes to plan, Pebble Time will start shipping out to backers in May, and Pebble Time Steel in July.
Nearly 78,500 backers opened up their virtual wallets to support the effort, 142 of which contributed at least $5,000 for the "Distributor" reward tier, the highest tier available. In exchange, those 142 backers will all receive 10 Pebble Time smartwatches in each of the three available colors for a total of 30 smartwatches each. By our not-so-fuzzy math, that comes out to $166.67 per watch.
Pebble Time was a success from the start. It took a mere 17 minutes to reach its funding goal, and had raised almost $6 million in the first five hours alone. At over $20 million at the end of the funding period, Pebble Time obliterated the previous record of $13.3 million for the Coolest Cooler.
One thing that helped Pebble Time raise so much money is that the team introduced a higher priced premium "Pebble Time Steel" version with a bigger battery and new timeline interface about a week after the Kickstarter page went live. Not only did this attract new backers, but it also prompted existing ones to go back and upgrade their funding commitment.
If all goes to plan, Pebble Time will start shipping out to backers in May, and Pebble Time Steel in July.
