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Belgaum-based SenseGiz, known for being one of the earliest smartwatch makers in India, has raised $500K from Karnataka Semiconductor Venture Capital firm (KARSEMVEN).
The secured funds will help the startup to boost its marketing activities, foray into new product development and expand its team.
According to Abhishek Latthe CEO and founder of SenseGiz, for hardware startups, it is more difficult to raise the initial amount than to raise the subsequent rounds.”We are manufacturing this completely in India. That’s why we got the funding,” said he.
The startup plans to sell around 1 lakh units by next year, all of which are poised to be manufactured at its Mysore unit.
SenseGiz is in the business of designing and producing innovative products in the wearables & IoT space. It, currently, manufactures two products – FIND, a device tracker which has sold 20000 units till date and STAR, a smartband which has sold 3000 units. The products are sold via the US-based retailers like Target, and currently, available in the US and Japan markets.
Both of these devices can be paired up to one’s smartphone via Bluetooth Low Energy protocol. According to the company, its USP lies in the various formats. During an emergency, the devices send out triggered notifications to concerned people of the smartwatch users. It also sends out an audio recording (a minute or two’s duration) of the event and allows for emails to be sent as well.
According to the US-based Allied Market Research, the smartwatch market is expected to reach a whopping $32.9 Bn by 2020. Keeping this opportunity in mind, SenseGiz is now planning to expand into the B2C (business-to-consumer) segment after tapping the B2B (business-to-business) market for the last two years.
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