Babson College-born tech accessories startup OnHand announced Monday it raised a $500,000 seed round through private investment. The fresh funding will be put toward building out its product offerings and expanding into more than 2,000 stores in the next two years.
Started in 2010, OnHand was created for students, by one of their own – then-Babson College senior Andrew Kitzenberg. His first product, a USB flash drive wristband, was originally forged for a class project. When a pilot bookstore carrying 50 Memory on Hands sold out in two days, Kitzenberg realized he had a burgeoning business.
Since then, the entrepreneur has sold more than 120,000 of the wristbands, ushered his company through local startup accelerator MassChallenge and added other gadgets to the portfolio, like waterproof Bluetooth creature speakers. Currently, OnHand products can be found in more than 500 college and university bookstores.
Perhaps most impressive is that Kitzenberg has managed to expand that much without taking a dime of financing. Until Monday’s round of funding, OnHand was bootstrapped, largely relying on Kickstarted funds to drive manufacturing and marketing. Kitzenberg ran two campaigns on the crowdfunding platform, both of which blew past their combined goal of $25,000 and raised $43,513 in total.
But with the back to school season creeping up, OnHand is hoping to take its business to the next level, and is bringing its bootstrapped phase to a close.
Monday’s round will go toward the company’s roll out onto campuses around the country. OnHand already has deals to bring its new smartphone-charging station and merchandiser retail solution to hundreds of college stores next fall, including those of University of Alabama, the University of California-Los Angeles, the University of North Carolina and the University of Vermont.
Image via Kickstarter
