One of the biggest crowdfunding platforms in the world launched in Canada last week. One company in Winnipeg hopes to cash in on its potential.
Lumo is an interactive video projector created in Winnipeg. It allows users to play games like soccer or board games on any surface.
“What it does is project on to your child's floor different games and effects they can play with,” said Jocelyn Laeleannec of software development company Po-Motion.
The company built one prototype but wants to market 150 Lumos. To do that, it's trying to raise $200,000 on Kickstarter.
“There's a minimum of $1 to a maximum of whatever you feel like, $200,000 would be great,” said Laeleannec.
Inventors post their project on the site and they have up to 60 days to raise money for it. If they don't get enough online donations, or "backers" in that time, they don't receive a cent and the backers aren't charged.
“It really puts the funding of those projects in the hands of many, as opposed to traditionally a select few,” said Kevin Hnatiuk, CEO of New Media Manitoba.
Hnatiuk sees Kickstarter as a way for companies to gauge whether or not their projects have legs. “It gives you instant feedback. People vote with their wallets at different levels of a Kickstarter campaign to determine if they really want your product.”
Since Monday, Po-motion has raised more than $6,000. While investors outside Winnipeg have expressed interest in developing Lumo, the company says f it reaches its Kickstarter goal, it would manufacture Lumo at home and create jobs here.
“If we could open a toy factory in Winnipeg, creating the next best toy in the world, that would be amazing,” said Laeleannec.
If the company raises the capital in time it expects to have the first Lumos available by next October.
According to Kickstarter, 44 per cent of companies launched on the site in the U.S. have been successful. Since 2009, it's raised $780 million for thousands of projects.
- With a report by Karen Rocznik
