AirSelife, a Minneapolis company building a flying selfie camera, has launched a new crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder and is hoping to raise up to $1 million.
The campaign began on May 8, and quickly met its minimum goal of $50,000. Currently, AirSelfie has raised just over $100,000 from 132 backers. Wefunder, unlike Kickstarter, allows startup supporters to invest in a business with the hope of earning a return.
AirSelfie has previously run successful crowdfunding campaigns, most recently raising just over $1.6 million from 13,733 backers on Indiegogo last summer. So for CEO Greg Appelhof, it was a no-brainer to go the same route for this funding round.
"We have had tremendous success in product-based crowdfunding," Appelhof told Minne Inno in an email. "We believe the brand connects well with millennials who are moving from traditional purchasing methods to e-commerce and want to be a part of AirSelfie's community."
Appelhof added that crowdfunding was a particularly good option during the Covid-19 crisis because traditional venture capital funding is slowing down. AirSelfie has also struggled with manufacturing due to the pandemic. Its factory in China reopened three weeks ago, and is still not producing at full capacity, according to Appelhof.
But despite some challenges, the business has remained strong overall. Its direct-to-consumer business has held up, averaging $100,000 in sales month since the start of 2020.
The Wefunder campaign is AirSelfie's first equity raise as a U.S.-based company. Prior to this campaign, it raised $5.5 million from founders and European investors. Appelhof said he chose to officially move the company from London to the U.S. in order to "build the AirSelfie brand from a USA perspective."
He added that AirSelfie hopes to soon release plans on building its management, marketing and development team in Minneapolis.
