It looks like Indiegogo isn't stopping with Brookstone in an attempt to bring its crowdfunded products to retail more quickly.
Days after announcing its partnership with Brookstone, the self-proclaimed "largest global fundraising site" has announced it's also teaming up with Target to put select devices from its campaigns in the retailer's Open House connected-home section in San Francisco, as reported by Engadget. If the experiment goes well at the Open House in San Francisco it could spell Target opening up many more of its locations to house and sell Indiegogo products in the future.
As of now, the select products are the Nanoleaf light bulbs, Oomi smarthome system and Butterfly wireless camera (pictured below), although that list could grow as the Indiegogo-Target partnership flourishes and the large retailer continues to look for ways to actively engage and collaborate with independent inventors.
This way would-be customers can get a hands-on feel for some of the more popular items being fund-raised for on Indiegogo at a physical Target location, where they'd presumably be doing their other shopping, anyway.
"We both have the same intentions to enable individuals entrepreneurs to have an easier path to get their products into the hands of users," David Mandelbrot, Indiegogo chief operating officer, told Engadget about the goals of the company and Target with this collaboration.
This announcement comes days after Indiegogo announced a parternship with Brookstone, where creators could submit their ideas directly to Brookstone's partner page on Indiegogo.com. Brookstone will then give the most-intriguing campaigners access to design, manufacture, package and sell their products in their stores within a special "Funded with Indiegogo" section.
The first items under that partnership are the Cat Ear Headphones, which raised more than $3.4 million in its Indiegogo campaign, and the Fizzics personal beer dispenser, which raised upward of $200,000, prior to hitting Brookstone displays.
