Over 9,600 people funded Toronto start-up’s one-dimensional mobile keyboard
TORONTO, Canada (April 18, 2013) — The Indiegogo campaign for Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers,” created by Whirlscape Inc., has closed after raising $87,369 in one month.
Minuum is a one-dimensional, tiny keyboard that frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. Its specialized, patent-protected auto-correction algorithm allows highly imprecise typing, configuring the difference between what you type and what you mean in real time and getting it right even if you miss every single letter.
Read about the Minuum launch and reaching its $60,000 stretch milestone in previous posts. The posts include links to Minuum’s international media coverage. Most recently, their technology and Indiegogo success were featured in The Verge, the Financial Post, Mobile Syrup (includes an excellent Youtube interview with founder Will Walmsley, embedded below) and Tech2.
The campaign’s initial goal — $10,000 to fund the launch of an Android keyboard app — was reached within 14 hours. Since its launch on March 18, the campaign video has been viewed over 1.1 million times.
Did you know Minuum’s campaign is in Indiegogo’s top 10 of all time for projects with the largest number of supporters?
1. [Technology] – Let’s Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum – 33,253
2. [Community] – Let’s Give Karen -The bus monitor- H Klein A Vacation! – 32,251
3. [Gaming] – Keep Skullgirls growing – 15,872
4. [Video/Web] – Project For Awesome – 15,310
5. [Animals] – BearLove Good. Cancer Bad. – 14,407
6. [Design] – StickNFind- Bluetooth Powered ultra small Location Stickers – 12,314
7. [Design] – BugASalt- The Final Push – 10,764
8. [Video/Web] – HELLO, HARTO! – 10,324
9. [Technology] – The Minuum Keyboard Project – 9,648
10. [Environment] – Pe’ Sla: Help Save Lakota Sioux Sacred Land! – 9,267
“The response to our campaign has been incredible,” says Will Walmsley, CEO of Whirlscape. “While we hoped others would appreciate our project, we didn’t anticipate the level of support, enthusiasm, and excitement that Minuum would generate around the world. Since the campaign launch, we’ve heard from thousands of people who are excited about the future of typing that our simplified technology will enable — on all mobile devices, wearable and otherwise.”
The Minuum touchscreen keyboard is the first step of the Minuum project, which seeks to bring simplified typing to mobile and wearable devices. Minuum’s simplicity, size, and accuracy make it the perfect keyboard to fit into the future of wearable computing. Thanks to the additional funding, Whirlscape will release a wearable development kit (WDK) later in 2013, empowering others to easily create personalized keyboards on any variety of devices and surfaces.
In June 2013, the Android beta version of the Minuum keyboard will be available for the projects supporters. At that time, technology journalists will also be able to test for free.
An FAQ covering the most common Minuum questions is available on the Minuum website; background information, technical details, photos, product specifications, and more information about wearable computer applications of Minuum are also posted on minuum.com/mediaroom.
About Whirlscape Inc.
Based in Toronto, Ontario, Whirlscape Inc. is a Canadian high-technology start-up with roots in human-computer interaction (HCI). Its product offerings address typing errors in widespread applications like e-mail and text messaging (SMS), initially through alternative keyboards on Android devices with planned extensibility to iOS (iPhone, iPad) and other platforms or OEM devices. Founded in June 2012, Whirlscape has received seed funding from the University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST) program and MaRS Innovation. Whirlscape is engaged in developing fully functional Minuum keyboards for Android, incorporating touchscreen entry and motion-controlled modes. The company is also prototyping wearable typing devices to test its technology to its limits.