CWRU startup Everykey still needs to raise $20,000 to reach its ambitious Kickstarter goal

Mike McKenna, Director of Print

Case Western Reserve University startup Everykey’s hopes to raise $100,000 are going to come down to the wire.

Founded and led by recently graduated engineering and computer science alumnus Chris Wentz, the fledgling business hopes to create a Bluetooth enable wristband that can unlock password and login protected websites and electronic devices like computers and phones.

It has turned to Kickstarter, the popular crowd funding website to raise the capital money it needs for Beta, production parts, and packaging testing along with assembly and shipping. Everykey has already received financial support through a number of business accelerators, grants, and business competition prizes.

After a flurrious first two day of pledges, raising over $25,000, backing has slowed in the recent weeks of the 30 day campaign, a not so uncommon phenomenon in Kickstarter efforts. As of press time, the campaign sits at just over the $80,000 mark with nine days to go.

“We’re very excited about what’s to come,” Everykey’s Vice President of Marketing Hope Ho said. “We’re in the final stretch so we’re going full force.”

If the group doesn’t hit their $100,000 goal, they will not receive any of the money.

According to Ho, to get the final push of funding they need, Everykey is hoping to spread the word about its campaign through a social media effort in which individuals who post about Everykey will be entered into a drawing to win one of ten free Everykeys.

“We really think that the sweepstakes will help a lot with Everykeys being an incentive so that we can reach a wider network than we have already,” Ho said.

Ho says that initial response to the sweepstakes has been good especially among friends and family of the 19 individuals who are part of the business, but that they hope to reach a larger audience.

According to Everykey’s Kickstarter page, the business has been feature in reports by a variety of news organizations and websites, including Business Insider, Yahoo!, and The Plain Dealer among others.