If you make a wearable device, chances are someone’s going to be sending money your way pretty soon.
Misfit Wearables knows that well. The company, which makes the quarter-sized Shine activity tracker, has raised another $15.2 million to make its vision for wearable devices a reality.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":868039,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"entrepreneur,","session":"D"}']While there’s an increasing number of fitness monitors out there, the Shine sets itself apart by being small, water-resistant, and fashionable. Translation: Few people are going to have a problem wearing the thing all the time. (Contrast that with devices like the Nike+ FuelBand, which multiple women have gone out of their way to tell me they wouldn’t wear.)
While the Shine has been available to most people for only a few months, it’s already been pretty successful: It’s IndieGoGo campaign last year raised nearly $850,000, blowing past Misfit Wearables’ $100,000 funding goal. The company expects to ship 200,000 of the devices this year alone.
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So, yes, you might say that the Shine has a bit of traction.
Investors agree. The latest funding round — led by Horizon Ventures, with participation from Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Norwest Venture Partners — joins the $7.6 million Misfit Wearables raised last April. The company has raised $22.8 million to date, and at this rate, is on track to raise a bunch more.
Misfit Wearables’ latest funding comes just two days after it introduced an Android app for the Shine, which had been iOS-only since launch.
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