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Thousands of backers like you voted for an Indiegogo campaign to receive major cash prizes from Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services. Now, the results are in!
First Place – $50,000: UniLid
Second Place – $25,000: Rite Press
Third Place – $15,000: BodyBoss
Read on to learn more about their exciting products, and what these campaigners will be doing with their flash funding from Ingram Micro.
Thanks to everyone who voted for their favorite campaign! Five lucky winners, chosen at random, will receive their $50 Indiegogo Marketplace gift card soon.
Third Place: BodyBoss 2.0 wins $15,000 in flash funding
BodyBoss 2.0, the home gym that you can take anywhere, won $15,000 in flash funding from Ingram Micro. BodyBoss’s team includes Ross Oltorik, CEO; Jay Neyer, CRO; Erin Geribon, COO; Marci Campbell, CTO; Jess Ruff, Head of Support; Natalie Motzko, AR / AP; and Vedant Chopra, Marketing.
How did they come up with their popular product idea? The BodyBoss team noted, “We came up with the idea after Ross, our CEO, tore his rotator cuff doing heavy training for sports and realizing that not only was resistance an effective training mechanism, but it could be brought directly to people everywhere—helping improve lives and peoples fitness around the globe.”
The BodyBoss team realized that there was a need for a product that offered features of a gym, but was more easily accessible: “Almost everyone when asked would like to have more fitness in their lives but it falls to the bottom of our priority list due to time.” So they developed BodyBoss 2.0, which “takes all the concepts from the gym and combines them into one solution.”
BodyBoss previously successfully raised more than $1 million entirely on Indiegogo’s InDemand platform, far exceeding the $561K that they raised on other crowdfunding platforms. They found a very supportive group of backers on Indiegogo: “Indiegogo has a reputation as being a prestigious platform and having amazing community of supporters behind it. We are constantly blown away about how awesome Indiegogo backers are and supportive in our businesses growth.”
Throughout their entrepreneurial journey, the BodyBoss team has faced a lot of challenges. Their greatest one? “Having to do everything! Entrepreneurship is tough. You need to learn about branding, accounting, logistics, manufacturing, customer relations, supplier relations, product design, tech development, etc. It’s constant non-stop learning and growing!”
The challenges didn’t stop there. “Logistics and shipping is definitely tough. We have shipped 500,000 lbs of product around the globe to 60+ countries. Working with all the nuances is definitely a challenge.”
How did they react upon winning flash funding from Ingram Micro? “It feels amazing! All the proceeds will go towards benefiting our customers and providing them fast shipping from our partners at Ingram Micro.”
Second Place: Rite Press wins $25,000 in flash funding
In second place is Rite Press, which won $25,000 in flash funding from Ingram Micro. The Rite Press team is led by Sargam Patel, Founder & CEO, and also includes Robin Jerauld, CFO; Owen Read, Senior Industrial Designer & Engineer; Eric Beaupre, Product Engineer; Billy Chu, Operations & Logistics Manager; Arthur Xiong, Senior Project Manager; Athena Ho, Project & Marketing Manager; and Mara Schmid, Marketing & Copy Strategist.
The story of Rite Press begins with Sargam Patel, founder and CEO. He says, “I’m one of those people who is always looking for ways to improve the status quo. It’s what led me to engineering, and it’s what led me to start my first company, Agent18, after inventing the first hard plastic case for the iPod.”
His lifelong passion for great coffee eventually inspired him to improve the French Press. “Coffee got me through founding and building Agent18, and it’s still an important part of my day. Having tried many methods, I believe the French Press is the best way to brew coffee at home—it’s simple to use, environmentally friendly, and makes amazing coffee. But the design of the French Press hasn’t been improved since they were first developed in 1929. I thought it was time to change that.”
The ultimate result was Rite Press, which the Rite Press team describes as “French Press 2.0—thoughtfully designed from beginning to end to ensure an amazing cup of coffee every time. We built a thermometer and timer into the French press to help you create your perfect brew. Our proprietary design also makes coffee clean-up easy with a simple twist-off bottom. The stainless steel filter forces all the grounds into our patented removable bottom chamber, which twists off for easy cleaning.”
After designing the Rite Press and filing for patents, they turned to crowdfunding to fund production and the delivery of Rite Press, as well as to find supporters and build their community. They were attracted to Indiegogo’s InDemand platform due to the ability to keep their momentum going after their initial crowdfunding campaign.
Throughout their entrepreneurial journey, the Rite Press team faced multiple challenges, with the biggest being production cost: “It’s expensive to create a high-quality product with high-quality materials!” Their biggest shipping and fulfillment challenge was international shipping. They discovered the pitfalls of not accurately estimating international shipping costs in advance. “Rite Press had backers from over 50 countries, and we didn’t charge enough in international shipping to cover true shipping costs to certain regions.”
Rite Press connected to the Ingram Micro team. Beyond advising them on shipping and fulfillment challenges, the Ingram Micro team also introduced them to the flash funding opportunities available through the partnership with Indiegogo.
Upon winning $25,000 in flash funding from Ingram Micro, the Rite Press team reacted, “We’re honored and excited! The support from our backers and the crowdfunding community has been beyond expectation, and we’re truly grateful. We’ll be putting the funds toward shipping costs, which we had partially subsidized for our backers.”
First Place: UniLid wins $50,000 in flash funding
Alia Lau and Seva Mouler of UniLid (center; fourth and fifth from the left) receive $50,000 in flash funding from Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services
With the most votes from backers, UniLid – the one lid that fits all – won first place and the top prize of $50,000 in flash funding from Ingram Micro.
Alia Lau and Seva Mouler, Co-Founders, met while studying in the university late at night. They noted, “Being some of the last people there, we sparked up a conversation about making real products to help real people and help our world remain beautiful as it is now. After a few years of working corporate, we started collaborating on building a company and a physical product. Ultimately, we came out with UniLid and the ride has been ongoing ever since.”
UniLid, the universal kitchen storage lid that fits all shapes and sizes of containers, comes in a set of five graduating sizes that turn virtually any container into instant storage, from sodas to fruits, plastic containers, pots and pans, and more. An eco-friendly replacement for plastic wrap and foil, each lid also comes with a rotating day-of-the-week dial that can be used to track leftovers, for weekly meal prep and overall fridge organization.
The UniLid team explains how it all began: “The inspiration for UniLid originated from a personal pain point of routinely cleaning out the fridge and being left with a trash can full of uneaten and expired food. After this happening so many times, we began to think more about our own ecological footprint alongside the overwhelming increase in waste in the US. We then became really excited to create a product that could help alleviate these problems.”
In the process of designing UniLid, Lau and Mouler “focused on creating a multipurpose kitchen tool suited for all households and addressed many of the commonplace problems present in the kitchen. We personally hated spending time searching for the right sized Tupperware lid and using foil or plastic wrap. We knew there had to be a better way.”
When in the funding stage, the UniLid team chose to run on Indiegogo’s InDemand platform, which they call “an easy decision for us…With the help of Indiegogo, we’ve been able to continue building our community of backers. One of the great benefits of crowdfunding is the level of engagement, feedback, and sincere interest for your product you get from your supporters.” Their experience continued to surprise them throughout: “An aspect of running a campaign on Indiegogo that never fails to surprise us is how Creator centric the platform is. We really have been blown away by the level of support, guidance, and opportunity for growth from the Indiegogo community; we feel so grateful.”
UniLid’s entrepreneurial journey allowed them to experience “unique and exciting challenges” at every stage. When it came to the shipping and fulfillment stage, the biggest hurdle for them is simply “getting all customer orders shipped out as quickly as possible. Another aspect of fulfillment and shipping that is equally challenging is finding the right logistics partner who fits your company’s needs; one who is reliable, communicative and can provide customized shipping solutions.”
The UniLid team appreciated that “Indiegogo places a huge emphasis on providing Creators with unique opportunities to take their projects to the next level and then informing them about these opportunities.” The team learned about benefits such as flash funding opportunities from Ingram Micro Commerce and Lifecycle Services through Indiegogo’s newsletters, and because of that, “Our team was really eager to learn more and was able to do so by attending an event [Hardware Happy Hour at Target Open House] with an Ingram Micro panel moderated by Indiegogo.”
Upon winning $50,000 in flash funding from Ingram Micro, Lau and Mouler were thrilled: “Words cannot begin to describe how ecstatic we are about winning flash funding from Ingram Micro! It’s honestly so incredible to receive support of this magnitude for this phase of our project. Fulfillment and shipping is one of the most crucial steps for Creators and we’re really fortunate to have the peace of mind that we’re in good hands. We are so appreciative to have the opportunity to work with a company with such expertise like Ingram. We will use the flash funding for shipping out nearly 20,000 preorders coming from crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo.”
If you’re an entrepreneur interested in learning how to ship smarter and how to qualify for flash funding opportunities, connect with Ingram Micro today to receive a free consultation. Get information about our partnership with Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services here.
