littleBits is an “open source hardware” company that makes electronic building blocks to design objects for work and play. People have great traction on these electronic building blocks, therefore its demand raises. In order to keep up with the demand and work on cool new modules like wireless connectors, recently littleBits has raised a huge amount of funds from four well-known venture capital firms.
Ayah Bdeir is the founder and CEO of littleBits. Four years ago, Ayah Bdeir used to posted some prototypes of the electronic building blocks on her website. Day by day, the electronic building blocks that were designed for work and play attracted all types of people – from kids to aged people. The company’s main priority was to build the kits as user-friendly as possible. In fact, these electronic building blocks were really creative.
LittleBits makes four types of modules. They are “power”, “input” “output” and “wire”. A module consists of a circuit board is built to do only one thing. Either it can light up or vibrate or buzz or respond to pressure or something else. A complete circuit is sold in an initial pack for $89. Now, the company makes 28 different types of modules.
But the problem for littleBits was though it could make things simple, but manufacturing the kits weren’t so easy as the company had lack of funds. Recently, the company littleBits has collected $3.65 million funds from four well-known venture capital firms – True Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Khosla Ventures and AlphaTech Ventures to fulfill the demand of the new modules. And moreover, the company has signed a manufacturing deal with PCH International to scale up its business
With that big amount, the company plans to hire more engineers and to improve the manufacturing and shipping process. The company is going to introduce 30 new modules like a solar panel module, a rechargeable battery, a sound recorder etc. over the next few month.
As the littleBits open source will remain intact, the design files can be downloaded from the company’s website, and interested people will be able to ask technical questions in the littleBits forum.
If someone is interested to buy the LittleBits’ electronic building blocks or modules, he/she can buy that through the company’s website and from few online distributors. The kits are also available in AC Gears.
Source : The Verge
Thanks To : Techcrunch
