As reported in April, Be My Eyes had launched a crowd funding campaign and have now announced that Velux Foundation have bridged the shortfall to the tune of 1.8M DKK, roughly €250,000.
Originally the company had a target of reaching only $10,000 and had reached $3,788 on their indiegogo page. The extra money will allow the company to advance in developing the app, user testing and adding more features before it goes live on the App Store later this year.
For those that don’t know the story behind Be My Eyes, the application will allow blind and sighted people to use the camera of their smartphone to help describe what they see. So for those blind or partially sighted users, they will be able to use the app to find out how much salt is in canned food or find out when the milk expires for example. When the user uses the app, the video camera will transmit what the user sees, to a group of volunteers that can help assist in anyway.
The announcement is welcomed by Hans Jørgen Wiberg, CEO and believes that with the extra funding the company will be able to hire a manager to oversea the development of the app. Wiberg tells us that their main focus surrounding investment was wrong. ”We tried attracting investment from crowdfunding, but we eventually realised that big foundations were ready to donate straightaway”. The Velux Foundation is a non-profit organisation that makes donations to older persons to enable them to make an active contribution to developing and improving their own lives and others.
