After raising more than 40 percent of its $75,000 fundraising goal in the first two days of its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, Hartford wearable safety tech startup Wearsafe Labs announced Monday that it had reached the goal line.
As of Tuesday mid-morning, the campaign, which expires Aug. 20, had raised $77,273 from 767 backers.
Co-founder Phill Giancarlo told the Hartford Business Journal in June that he hopes the company can reach as much as $100 million in annual revenue by its fifth year.
Wearsafe said it plans to begin shipping its product — a small Bluetooth-enabled panic button that can alert friends and family that the user is in trouble and unable to call or text for help— to Kickstarter backers several weeks after the fundraising campaign ends.
For a limited number of “early bird” donors, the company has promised a Wearsafe Tag and a lifetime of product support to anyone who gives $40 or more. Approximately 750 people have taken the company up on that offer.
The Kickstarter rewards go up with the amount donated.
Though backers receive product, Kickstarter does not allow companies to offer equity investments.
In 2013, federal regulators began allowing crowdfunding platforms to offer equity stakes. A number of websites have cropped up, but Connecticut startups — at least as of a year ago — weren’t finding much success yet in equity crowdfunding.
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