Shamil Hargovan and Louis-Victor Jadavji have sunk about $2 million over the past year-plus preparing to launch their tech startup.
And even after closing a $3.5-million seed funding round in December, it’s a much smaller dollar amount the co-founders of Vancouver-based Wiivv are eying at the moment.
On January 6, the pair launched a Kickstarter to begin offering Wiivv’s first product, the Base custom insole.
Within two days of starting the crowd-funding campaign, Wiivv already reached its campaign goal of $50,000. It has since reached more than $77,000 as of January 11.
“Putting up a website is akin to trying to get people to come visit your house (to buy a product),” Hargovan told Business In Vancouver.
“Whereas going up on Kickstarter means you’re in the middle of the mall where there’s a lot of traffic.”
While many Vancouver startups are going the route of B2B apps or financial technology (fintech) services, Wiivv wants to appeal to the fashion senses of tech-savvy consumers.
Hargovan describes the startup as a “bionics company” that creates formfitting bodywear through body-scanning software and 3D printers.
Customers can download a mobile app, scan their feet with a smartphone and then receive custom-fitted insoles in the mail within two weeks.
The company has invested $1 million into a San Diego manufacturing facility that will push out the insoles and — further down the road — other bodywear with the help of industrial-grade 3D printers.
“This next push is getting to market with our first product and proving the (business) model,” Hargovan said.
If this first launch is a success, the plan is to expand production capacity and shorten the period of time customers must wait for their custom bodywear to arrive in the mail from two weeks to three days.
Meanwhile, research and development is staying put in B.C.
Hargovan said Wiivv will eventually incorporate wearable technology into the products such as sensors for the insoles that could measure users’ performance on their feet.
“If you’re a Seahawks fan, which I am, you would have (coach) Pete Carroll being able to say, ‘Marshawn Lynch is looking a little fatigued. Let’s get him off the field.’”
