Why Indian startup's device Gecko sees pre-order surge

BANGALORE: Gecko, the coin-sized electronic device with a multitude of uses and developed and marketed by a Bangalore startup, has exceeded all pre-order expectations.

By November 2, the last day of the pre-order campaign, it had raised orders worth $135,485. As many as 3,731 people around the world have ordered the device, the first shipments of which are expected in mid-December. Each device costs about $20, and over 6,000 Geckos have been ordered.

The campaign started on crowd-funding platform Indiegogo on September 11 with the objective of raising orders worth $50,000. The surge in orders – pushed by a tweet from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and coverage by global technology mediapersuaded the company to extend the deadline for orders and raise its targeted collection to $120,000.

Gecko has been developed by Connovate Technology, founded in January this year by four professionals, Bahubali Shete, Kiran Kumar, Rajeev M and S Varadarajan.
Kumar told TOI on Sunday that pilot manufacturing had begun in a plant in China. “These past few weeks have been really exciting. We have orders from 70 countries. Around 35-40 resellers around the world are in talks with us to market Gecko. Several big VC and industry names are keen to fund us. But more than money, we are interested in a strategic partner that can help us build our market,” he said.

Pre-orders are no indication of continued success. In 2010, Bangalore startup Notion Ink’s tablet called Adam had raised expectations among geeks around the world to extraordinary heights, but ended up disappointing early buyers. The company took such a knock that it is yet to recover from it (it is now said to be launching a new budget tablet).

But if Gecko succeeds, it would not only take the company to a new orbit, it would underscore India’s capabilities in developing innovative consumer electronic products for the world. Much of India’s software and technology expertise is currently focused on business-to-business work, and even where consumer products are involved, India’s expertise has so far gone into building products conceptualized and architected by others.

Gecko is a low-powered bluetooth device that can be attached to valuable items such as wallets, bikes, suitcases, and you can trace them through your phone if they go missing.