The Irish company has gone to the investment market and so far has received a very big boost.
Having already raised almost €140,000 via two campaigns on Kickstarter, Irish cycling tech company See.Sense is raising funds again, with further rapid success.
The firm – which specialises in smart bike lights – is currently in the first week of a fresh fundraising drive on Crowdcube.
And with just over five days elapsed so far the company has raised £415,000, or just a shade under €500,000.
Some 187 investors have put their money in since the funding round opened last Friday, with 23 days remaining.
See.Sense has also announced a new distribution deal with leading distributor Raleigh covering the UK and Republic of Ireland.
See.Sense is looking to raise between £500,000 and £750,000 and this time it is selling shares in the company.
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Those who invest and buy the shares can spend as little as £10 and will receive equity and a range of ‘money can’t buy’ rewards the company will be offering into the future.
The funding round comes at a time when See.Sense is using the technology in its smart lights to collect data anonymously from the lights.
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This will be provided to city planners to enable them better plan cycling infrastructure globally, with the first such project already underway in the shape of a partnership between See.Sense and Milton Keynes in the UK.
The funding target of £500,000 to £700,000 is set against a company valuation of £2 million at the outset of the funding drive.
And TechStartNI is investing £250,000 at this stage of the business’s development.
The lights, the plan
The lights developed by See.Sense are extra light and bright.
But they also have sensors that react to cyclists’ environment such as flashing and varying brightness when the cyclist is negotiating features like roundabouts or entering a darker area.
The lights also boast a theft alert function and will send out an emergency call for help in the event the cyclist crashes; both functions made possible by the lights’ integration with the cyclists’ mobile phone.
“We have some hugely innovative new products in the pipeline, and we’ve some amazing opportunities opening up with cities who are interested in our crowd sourced data,” said Simon McAleese, the man who began the company with wife Irene just three years ago.
“To give fuel to the fire, we’re inviting our community - the people who use and love our products - to help us grow.
“To demonstrate the potential of our crowd sourced data, we have begun work with city of Milton Keynes on a full-scale trial.
“We are very excited about these opportunities and we hope that this will entice would be investors to, not only take See Sense to its next stage of growth, but to join us and be part of that journey.”
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