Startup Village-incubated Exploride raises over half-a-million dollars in pre-orders

Exploride, a startup Village-incubated company that has developed a futuristic hands-free display device for cars to combine music and GPS system, has raised more than half a million US dollars in pre-orders within 40 days of its international launch, a record-making feat for any Indian startup company till date.

The Kochi-based company has already received more than 1,800 pre-orders from around 50 countries for the innovative product that combines display and gesture-recognition technology to provide hands-free access to maps, calls, texts, notifications, music and the onboard diagnostics of a car.

“Raising a whopping $512,718 in 40 days for a startup is a feat achieved by no other company in India,” said Sunil Vallath, founder and CEO, Exploride. “We are so excited about the global response which validates our product.”

The product, known as Exploride Heads-up Display, has received orders from most parts of the globe, but the biggest pre-orders, priced and priced at 299 dollars apiece, are from the US.

The cutting edge small and portable product sits on the dashboard of cars and provides a safer and smarter navigation advice.

“Your car's infotainment system, instrument cluster, navigation system, and your smart phone, all these compete for your attention while you drive. Exploride puts all of them in one place, on a transparent display, so that you won't have to take your eyes off the road,” he explained.

The utility-packed device has GPS, LTE (a 4G mobile communications standard ten times faster than 3G) and Google maps that direct the driver through the best route, removing the need for a smart phone. It also has voice activated navigation that reminds the driver to take direction every time.

Further, one can take phone calls or decline them, raise or lower the volume and cancel the noise with simple hand gestures. Not only that, the device shows speed, tyre pressure, fuel and other engine stats. Further, apps like Apple Music, Twitter and Facebook are inbuilt in the device that also provides news and information about the weather. To top it all, its dash-cam records your driving street video which can be helpful in claiming insurance.

“From the inception, our vision was to be the global leader in the market we serve by creating a product that would be in demand for its compelling design, superior quality and best value,” he said.

Ironically, Vallath got the idea of developing such a product because of an accident in which his wife was involved, partly due to the use of smart phone. “It prompted me to create a product that would reduce these distractions and keep the occupants of a car safe. Thus came Exploride, which aims at reducing distractions while driving—without looking away or losing focus on road,” he said.

Startup Village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said the success of Exploride is a great example of global ideas being created in local ecosystems and is a blueprint for Startup India. “Product startup ecosystems that can support early stage founders even in the face of failure have to be created nationally for maximizing the potential of Startup India.”

For Startup Village, this is the fourth successful global crowd funding campaign, a phenomenon that is now recognized and taught at IIM-Ahmedabad as a case study. The result is yet another successful feather in the cap for Department of Science and Technology, which pioneered the PPP model in India.

The product has featured in magazines like Tech in Asia, Automoblog, Carscooops, CNET and Digital Trends.

About his future plans, Vallath said the company would work on adding more safety and exciting features in the gadget. “We are also trying to expand our workforce and raise another 10 million US dollars venture capital fund to share the risks and rewards as the company gears up for a disruptive journey” he added.