The team behind desktop 3D Printer BigBox pop open the champagne as they smash their £30,000 Kickstarter target to final tally of £262,143.
That’s an impressive performance, considering that the original target was a modest £30,000, outstripping the goal almost 850%.
The campaign was performing steadily right up until the deadline, with pledges holding at the £180,000 mark for the last couple of weeks (which itself is not inconsequential). But a last-minute surge in the last 24 hours carried the funding over the £250,000 level in a dramatic fashion.
A series of tantalizing stretch goals probably had something to do with it. The large build volume and no-compromise specs were already attractive, but backers were further tempted with the addition of two new sensors for the BigBox, plus the inclusion of a “Jet Pack” upgrade which offered the new E3D Volcano hot-end at a very attractive price.
There were also the promise of more free material with all printers, including an exotic filament sample from Proto-Pasta. And last but not least, committed statements about the Open Source nature of the 3D printer BigBox did much to win over any last minute fence-sitters.
One backer, Briain Dowling, had this to say in the comments thread:
“What a tremendous campaign, congrats to everyone involved, backers and creators alike. A very good start to your new business venture and to the anticipated future success you provide the community with further innovation and support of this great looking platform.”
An apt summation of everyone’s feelings about this outstanding campaign. But the 3D printer BigBox isn’t in backers’ hands yet, and there are a great many orders to fulfill between now and Christmas 2015.
Here’s a lengthy video interview conducted with the team by RichRap, prior to the campaign’s conclusion:
License: The text of "3D Printer BigBox: Kickstarter Campaign Ends with £262,143" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.