There are been some extraordinarily successful crowdfunded wearable projects, it’s true. Pebble and Omate are famous for raising more than $1 million each and going on to commercial success. But an analysis on TechCrunch indicates that only 23 percent of venture-funded wearables companies got their start in crowdfunding — and only 19 wearables companies that crowd-raised more than $100,000 also became venture backed.
That hardly means that VCs aren’t interested in the space. For every dollar crowdfunded in wearables, VCs have put $11 in — just not in the companies that have gone the crowd route. In the 82 companies in the CrunchBase database, VCs have invested $483 million.
Both consumers and VCs are interested in wrist devices, putting 32 percent of their money there. But where only 9 percent of consumer dollars have gone to body devices (stuff like clothing and body-worn cameras), 26 percent of VC money has gone into the segment.
It’s an interesting breakdown, worth reading if you’re thinking of starting a company or just like following the money.
