Bangalore-based Gecko raises $50K in crowd funding, with contribution from Apple's Steve Wozniak

Bangalore-based Connovate Technology Pvt Ltd, which provides a low-powered Bluetooth device Gecko that can add gesture control to smartphones, has raised more than $54,000 from Indiegogo crowd-funding platform. Apple Inc co-founder Steve Wozniak also contributed.

Connovate was founded in 2012 by Bahubali Shete, Kirankumar Rajarao, Sundaraparipurnan Varadarajan. A BE in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Karnataka University, Shete was earlier director and CTO at Galaxy Intelligentia. Previously, he was also technology head at TATA Elxsi. Rajarao holds a BE degree in Electrical Engineering from Karnataka University. He is also managing partner at Amigo Ventures and director at Frugal Labs Tech Solutions. Varadarajan is an alumnus of Coimbatore Institute of Management & Technology.

Connovate is a design-engineering and product solution firm with a focus on consumer electronics and home automation markets. Its flagship product Gecko is a multi-function Bluetooth device that can work as a camera trigger and alerts on motion. It can also work as a track-and-find leash for Android device, etc. It currently supports iOS and Android 4.3 devices.

Indiegogo is a platform for people/companies wanting to raise money; they can create fundraising campaigns on the platform. This platform can also be used to contribute to other people's passions. Anyone can join Indiegogo without paying a fee. But members have to pay a fee on the money that they raise using the platform—the fee is 4 per cent of the money raised if the company meets the goal or 9 per cent if it does not meet it. Gecko started fundraising on September 11 this year and the period ends on October 26.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)