A new record for investment pledges has been set by a call for money from the open source software firm behind the Ubuntu Edge smartphone.
Canonical has picked up promises of £6.6 million in funds from private investors, but is still about £14 million short of the capital raising target with just six days left before the appeal closes.
If the call for cash fails, it’s back to square one for Canonical as all the pledged cash will be returned.
The previous record on Indiegogo, the crowd funding site running the campaign, was £1 million for a medical scanner.
The figure raised by Ubuntu just tops last year’s record crowdfunding amount set by the Pebble Smartwatch on rival crowd funding site Kickstarter.
25,000 backers
Almost 25,000 backers have agreed to give money to the Ubuntu cause – and as a reward, Canonical plans to deliver 40,000 handsets to them which will not be available for sale.
London-based Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth said he was delighted with the public response to the call for cash.
“We were not expecting this kind of response even though we set the bar high,” he said. “Not only have we raised the highest amount of crowdfunded cash ever, but a number of major firms have come to us interested to discuss the phone.”
Even firms like Bloomberg are in on the act.
Bloomberg pledged just over £50,000 – entitling them to a bundle of 115 free phones – citing the initiative as a major influence on the future of phones and tablets.
The Ubuntu smartphone is scheduled to retail cheaper than the iPhone and other major smartphone brands and come with enhanced features, like multi-tasking and stereo sound.
Challenge to investors
Even Shuttleworth agrees the advanced Ubuntu phone may too much of a leap forward for the smartphone and tablet industry to win major industry backing.
“We knew that looking at tripling the world crowdfunding record was more than a big ask,” said Shuttleworth. “Our funding target is a challenge, but if nothing else, the response shows the demand.”
Canonical considered winning the required funding through Indiegogo would have brought the Ubuntu phone and features to market around two years earlier than going down any other route.
Ubuntu is a free operating system for computers, phones and tablets.
Canonical is the organisation that develops the software, issuing a new version every six months.
The firm is London based with offices in five more locations and more than 500 employees in 30 countries.
The campaign runs to August 21, 2013.
