The MATRIX PowerWatch, a smartwatch powered by body heat, has just received $75,000 in flash funding through the Arrow Certification Program. We talk with members of the Matrix team to find out about the challenges they faced during production and how the extra funds will benefit their operations.
When creating wearable technologies, design challenges can be particularly formidable – components have to be small yet durable and power efficient yet highly capable. Fortunately, Arrow Certified campaigns on Indiegogo’s platform are able to work with Arrow engineers to receive expert feedback on their design, as well as recommendations for parts and solutions for unique challenges.
This support proved invaluable for the Matrix team – Akram Boukai, co-founder and CEO of Matrix, says, “This was our first time developing a hardware product…and there’s always things that come up that you cannot anticipate.”
Arrow engineers were able to help the Matrix team refine their design and determine the ideal components for the smartwatch. A low-power consumption design was essential for the Matrix Power Watch. The device utilizes the ADXL362 MEMS accelerometer sensor, LTC3108-1 complete energy harvesting power manager and LTC4070 Lithium Ion/Polymer battery charging system all from Analog Devices (watch video to learn more).
Arrow has been a great resource for the Matrix team. Douglas Tham, co-founder and CTO of Matrix, notes, “I can always count on our Arrow rep to respond quickly on any issue. Especially, Arrow has been phenomenal in pulling together support for all the different parts and components we are using.”
Once they finish design-validation testing, Matrix will enter production-validation testing. So long as everything goes according to plan, they intend to ship the first set of units by the end of September and will begin mass production in October.
Boosting Production with Flash Funding
Now that Matrix has received $75,000 in flash funding, they are eager to put it to good use. Boukai noted that plenty of unexpected costs accompanied various steps of their production cycle. “Whatever the number you think you need, you probably need to add 20% or 30% to that number for each category of expense, because things never go as smoothly as you think, especially for first-time hardware developers.”
The team agrees the flash funding from Arrow is arriving at a great time. “The flash funding really helps and alleviates the shortage of resources. It’s a really nice honor to have received flash funding.” In addition to using the funds for physical production costs, the team also plans to allocate more resources to devote to marketing and PR.
Boukai and his team knew they wanted Matrix to be Arrow Certified before their campaign launched, hoping that they would be able to take advantage of the program’s benefits before hitting the market – relying on their instincts paid off. On average, campaigns that are certified upon launch raise 25% more funds and attract 60% more contributors than campaigns that are not certified at launch. Plus, Arrow Certified campaigns have a chance to win flash funding from Arrow, which is exactly what happened to the Matrix team.
If you are looking to get to market with your innovative technology and would like your chance to win a share of $1 million in flash funding, join the Arrow Certification Program and start working with Arrow engineers to fine-tune your design.