Early hardware pioneer Vergence Labs was forced to turn to crowdfunding to launch Epiphany Eyewear after venture capitalists repeatedly shut them down. On Business Wars, host David Brown detailed how the founders faced a wall of skepticism while trying to fund their prototype.
According to Brown, raising money for wearables in late 2011 was nearly impossible because "most VCs are focused on mobile apps" like Uber, WhatsApp, or Instagram. Facing rejection, the founders turned to the public, raising seventy thousand dollars through crowdfunding to get their smart glasses off the ground.
However, the initial excitement didn't guarantee long-term survival, especially as Google Glass began to dominate the headlines. Brown describes a grim scene eighteen months after the campaign in the company's "cramped, overcrowded offices," where a tiny team of ten worked under immense pressure, showing how quickly pioneering hardware startups can get squeezed.
As tech giants now prepare a new generation of AR spectacles, the early saga of Epiphany Eyewear stands as a stark reminder of how brutal the hardware landscape remains for independent innovators.