 "Indian start-up Witworks raises funding to build smartwatch")
Consumer Internet of Things start-up Witworks on Thursday announced its seed round of funding led by Fireside Ventures, InvestoPad, P39 Capital, and a syndicated group of angel investors.
The funding will be put towards the Bangalore-based start-up’s launch of Blink, its smartwatch platform aimed at giving users contextual information and services on the go (think a search engine, GPS, etc.) Blink uses a voice-enabled operating system named Marvin OS, which is based on Android.
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ALSO READ: After de-tangling earphones, Witworks crowd-sources 2 new product ideas
Founded by IIT-Kharagpur graduates Somnath Meher, Ankit DP, and Chandrashekhar Iyer, the company manufactures its products in Shenzhen. The company’s advantage, according to Ankit, comes from how it differs from the Apple Watch, Android Wear, Samsung Gear S2, and Sony’s Smartwatch 3 — it’s not tied to a mobile phone, so instead of replicating the features for a mobile device to be worn on the wrist, Witworks has the opportunity to build its products from scratch.
“Wearables, especially watches, are at a very interesting stage at this point of time. The technology is in place, and there’s enough eagerness amongst consumers. But lack of relevant use-cases, ease of interaction and genuine design-empathy have prevented them from taking off,” said Witworks CEO Somnath in a statement.
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To design Blink, the start-up has worked closely with traditional watchmakers, added Witworks COO Chandrashekhar.
Witworks’ earlier products include Rewind, a $2.50 earphone detangling accessory. The company claims to have sold around 40,000 Rewind units.
This is an article from Tech in Asia. You can read the original here