After a solid crowdfunding campaign, Hong Kong’s Ezeecube nabs $100k in seed funding from Nest

Ezeecube, a startup that makes a stackable media storage device for household use, has closed a US$100,000 seed round from Nest, the Hong Kong-based incubator and early stage investment fund.

The investment comes not long after Ezeecube successfully finished its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, which brought in over US$146,000 – almost double its targeted US$75,000. Before that, the company raised a small round from Hong Kong’s Big Bloom.

Founder Ashok Jaiswal tells Tech in Asia that pre-orders from the Indiegogo campaign will ship to supporters before Christmas. He hopes to plant the seeds for a retail rollout at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Jaiswal envisioned Ezeecube as a device for families looking to store and manage personal media, but don’t trust or enjoy using cloud services like Dropbox or iCloud. Customers who want more storage or other services can purchase another Ezeecube box, which stacks and connects to the first thanks to its design.

While the product remains consumer-facing, getting it in consumers’ hands will be difficult. That’s where Nest’s funding comes in handy.

“The marketing and sales efforts required to reach out to average consumers is huge,” Jaiwal tells Tech in Asia. “We have to go through distributors like Wal-Mart or Target, and the terms these big retailers give you on may not work for startups. You might not get good shelf space, and they might not promote your brand.”

In order to generate consumer awareness beyond online marketing and brick-and-mortar shelf space, Jaiwal says that Nest is helping Ezeecube form partnerships within two different industries: hospitality and telecom. For the former, hotels might install Ezeecube in guest rooms, encourage travelers to try out the service, and maybe sell a box or two. For the former, Jaiwal’s vision is a bit more ambitious, and Ezeecube’s gimmicky stackable design plays a central strategic role.

“Right now, even at your place, you have a modem, a router, and a set top box. All three things connected to three power sources with wires. Ezeecube allows telcos to provide one single unit and add, for example, a stackable wireless router, or even something like lighting controls or curtain controls. All of these things could be stacked onto Ezeecube, so that users don’t have to configure multiple devices and telcos don’t have to incur the costs of maintaining multiple devices.”

Jaiwal says that Nest and Ezeecube are currently in talks with British Telecom for a potential deal, and hopes to connect with more telcos as part of a longer term strategy.