What's the secret sauce behind their success and where they are now?
A Kickstarter campaign is often the preferred way for many early-stage startups to raise funds. That’s no wonder as it’s not only a great option to get funding for your product, but also to start promoting it among the target audience, launch with a blast and sometimes even go viral, if your offer and brand stand out.
Today we will take a look at the MedTech industry and show 5 interesting healthcare startups that carried out successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, which helped them to release their products. Whether you’re looking for inspiration and tips on how to launch your Kickstarter campaign, or wondering how you can get financing for your own MedTech product, in this article you’ll find lots of valuable insights, so read on!
Interested in more content from MedTech industry? Dive into our article about healthcare marketing campaigns.
Polix Watch
Pollix is an experienced technology startup that offers a wide range of products for fitness junkies—smartwatches, headphones, and even Bluetooth speakers. Their new project, Pollix Watch, is an AI-infused wearable with GPS tracking, heart rate and blood pressure monitoring, 17 types of workout recognized, and over 10 days battery life, and that’s only a small part of this smartwatch’s impressive set of features!
Their Kickstarter campaign features eye-catching and visually perfect videos, photos, mockups, infographics and competitor comparison, as well as an extensive FAQ section. Seeing their enormous effort put into preparing the campaign, it’s no surprise that they’ve already raised over $ 115,000, significantly exceeding their initial $ 50,000 goal!
So what’s next for Pollix? Along February 2020, they plan to finish testing and start sending the pre-orders, so we can be sure we will hear more about their product very soon!
Force
In an aging society, there is a growing need for cutting-edge tech solutions that could help take care of the elderly. This MedTech startup saw the niche and prototyped a health tracker for seniors, designed in particular to monitor emotional state. The objective was simple: to allow you to monitor the state of the physical and emotional health of your elderly loved ones. Data such as changes in the heart rate or blood volume, mood swings, etc. is monitored 24/7 and can be accessed at any moment via mobile app. The device was also equipped with a panic button, GPS, fall-down sensor, and pill reminder—all that’s necessary to ensure the well-being and security of an elderly person.
And where is this startup now? It seems like after raising their target $ 30,000, they pivoted and launched a slightly modified product targeted to a different audience: EMwatch, meant for those who want to improve their well-being and take care of their mental health. Well, the healthcare startup world is not always a child’s play, even if you successfully manage to raise funds on Kickstarter!
Poem Record
Data scattered over diverse, separated systems and databases is a problem in numerous industries, and healthcare is no different. This is the challenge that the MedTech company Zobreus Medical Corporation decided to resolve, launching their flagship product: POEM Record app. This application has all the features that every patient frustrated with poor accessibility to their medical records needs: automated retrieval and processing of medical data from any source, easy and instant access to crucial information about your health from your device, and even real-time contact with doctors on the platform.
After the initial product prototyping phase using their own funds, they decided to go for crowdfunding. Thanks to the Kickstarter campaign, the team behind POEM raised over $ 50,000 and released the iOS app in 2015. And then… we haven’t heard from them on social media or their websites since 2016, which demonstrates that successful crowdfunding campaigns don’t always translate directly into successful products. Why did this happen to such a beneficial initiative as POEM? We can only suspect that, as the app was offered free of charge, the lack of monetization options was the root cause of the failure of this project.
MyTransHealth
The previous examples were all about wearables and apps, but this doesn’t mean that’s the only option for MedTech startups trying to make a difference in the healthcare industry. Let’s take the MyTransHealth: a free of charge website for the transgender community, with a database of qualified and competent doctors. The product is simple but effective: users can browse the options available in their neighborhood, select their age range and indicate if they seek medical or mental health assistance.
All providers are meticulously screened to ensure the highest level of service. Why is this so important? As numbers show, 19% of transgender people were refused care, and the staggering 50% have to educate their own doctors in terms of transgender health issues! More than 850 Kickstarter users believed in MyTransHealth’s mission and backed them with a financing of $ 33,000. As for today, the website is thriving, featuring over 1000 healthcare providers all over the US, and still growing their database.
Dyslexie Font
The desire to solve the many issues that underprivileged parts of the society face daily is at the foundation of many healthcare startups, but it’s also a thing for… designers. That is the case of Dyslexie Font creator, graphic designer Christian Boer, who, being dyslexic himself, designed the font that increases the readability for people with this disorder as his graduation project. Long story short, his typography won numerous awards, Christian appeared on TEDx stage in New York, and a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter finalized successfully with more than 1,100 people supporting the idea and $ 38,000 raised.
As a result, the full version of the typeface was released in 2016. Now, dyslexics have a number of products from Dyslexie Font at their disposal: Chrome extension, Wordpress plugin, PDF converter, and even dyslexia-friendly online, desktop & mobile office suites available for a variety of devices. The world of letters is finally more accessible for the dyslexic!
What's the secret sauce for a successful Kickstarter campaign?
What would you need to achieve success similar to these healthcare tech startups? Unfortunately, masterful communication, appealing visuals and attractive rewards are not enough. The crucial factor that will determine your success in a Kickstarter campaign is a well-thought-out product strategy meant for disrupting the market.
Don’t forget that your objective is not to create a cool product that would be a hit on Kickstarter and a fail in the real world as soon as the pre-order phase ends. Long-term thinking is key in product development. Your true goal should be addressing a real need of a given target group, so a thorough market and customer research is a must. Having that sorted out, you can define your MVP and start prototyping your product, and finally, launch your crowdfunding campaign.
We know that it’s not an easy task, though, so if you need a helping hand with your dream in the making, here we are to assist you in the process of shaping your idea into a Kickstarter-ready product.
