PERI Duo is Using Rewards and Equity Crowdfunding

PERI Duo is a smartphone accessory that combines a Wi-Fi Bluetooth speaker and charging case.  PERI stands for Portable Electronics Re-Invented and the Duo gives users two of things that they need most for their mobile phones – additional battery power and more sound.  The PERI Duo raised $189K USD on Indiegogo in February 2015 from 1,625 backers is planning to start shipping in mid-April 2016.  This is later than originally planned, but as explained by the Campaigner Michael Hsu, they underestimated many challenges including certification and debugging of firmware and software.

Although PERI has not shipped the Duo yet to its Indiegogo backers, it started an equity crowdfunding campaign on Fundable to help it expand from B2C to B2B and get into the automotive market to supply audio technology.  Additionally PERI is going to grow its product line by introducing water resistant speakers and light bulb speakers for the home.  On its Fundable page PERI states that is has validated demand for its Duo product by raising $187K on Indiegogo and sold more than 1,500 units.  PERI also claims it has made an additional $35K in Duo pre-sales from its own website.

PERI’s strategy to start its business by using rewards based crowdfunding on Indiegogo and then expanding its business by seeking equity crowdfunding on Fundable seems like a logical progression.  The company notes it has already validated its initial concept by the number of sales it has made on Indiegogo and its own website.  Now it wants to grow its business by expanding its product line and pushing into new markets with equity crowdfunding on Fundable.

One negative to this story is that PERI hasn’t delivered the initial product yet to its Indiegogo backers.  So the proof of concept that it is touting on the Fundable page is not entirely complete.  While it has demonstrated potential demand, it can say little about customer satisfaction.  In fact, reading through some of the comments, it appears that some backers are quite dissatisfied that they haven’t received a Duo yet.  These backers may be unwilling to make future purchases from PERI based on their initial experience with the company.