TechCrunch
Espruino Seeks Kickstarter Funding To Help Jump Start Its “JavaScript For Things” Effort
Arduino is great, but Arduino is also pretty hard to wrap your head around, especially for newbies. The Espruino is “world’s first JavaScript microcontroller for beginners or experts,” and has been offered up to hobbyists and enthusiasts for a couple of years now by Cambridge, UK-based Gordon Williams, but now he’s taking to Kickstarter to make it even easier to use.
The Kickstarter project is designed to help Williams take his open source hardware board and get his Source Code cleaned, accessible and ready for Open Source release. Williams says via his Espruino project page that another goal of the Kickstarter is to make it possible to ship boards pre-installed with Espruino software, so that users can just order one and get started with coding immediately.
The concept of a “JavaScript for Things” is amazing for home hardware hackers, since it considerably simplifies the process of making devices behave the way you want them to. Williams uses the blinking light example to compare the amount and complexity of code required for both an Espruino-based board and an Arduino one. the JavaScript method is not only familiar to people who’ve done some web development, but it’s much easier to modify and extend, whereas Arduino often requires a lot of rework to accomplish even similar things.
Williams is a software developer with experience working for Altera, Microsoft, Nokia Collbaora and more, and he now heads up his own company, which makes the Morphyre 3D music visualizer. Hey’s a Cambridge computing grad and an avid at-home DIY gadget enthusiast, whose passion led to the creation of the Espruino as a way to help others enjoy similar hobbies via events-based programming.
The plan is for these to ship to backers (who can pre-order a board starting at £19) beginning in January 2014. Williams has experience making the hardware already, and a very detailed production plan in place to meet that target. Other kits include low power wireless radios, multicolour LED lights and more for higher pledge amounts.
Travel Marketplace Demeure Raises $4M To Take On Airbnb With A Subscription Service For High-End Travelers
Canada-based travel marketplace Demeure has raised $4 million in its third round of seed funding from about 50 Canadian private investors. This brings the startup’s total funding to about $8 million, but it has not yet raised any institutional funding. After a 24-month pilot, Demeure’s platform for buying and selling properties launched publicly last week.
Demeure targets higher-end travelers by using a service subscription model, where renters and owners can choose between an entry level account or a premium account for added benefits. Users list and search properties based on location, bedrooms, budget and keyword. They can also bid on specific rental homes listed on the site. CEO Peter Schwartz tells me the funding will go toward ramping up sales and marketing, as well as improving the platform by increasing user privacy and engagement.
Unlike other travel rental sites, Schwartz says Demeure does not monetize through website traffic, advertisements, customer transactions or user data. “This is an opportunity for people to see the value of a marketplace, without any focus on data or ad monetization getting in the way of what we do,” he tells me.
Instead, the startup offers perks such as booking priority and exclusive properties to travelers for a premium plan of $495/year. From the other side, property plans range from $495/year to $995/year. Property owners can also trade empty nights for currency through Demeure.
The company is entering an industry with well-established market competitors such as Airbnb and HomeAway, both of which have been covered extensively by TechCrunch. Schwartz tells me Demeure differentiates itself by providing a service model and controlled marketplace, so users know exactly what to expect.
“As you move our market to the mid and high-end, the service requirement gets much more involved than basically offering a list of properties and we bill you to book a commission,” he says. “In particular, the ability to monetize empty nights and a number of other services.” Those services include the curation of private properties through about 100 partners, as well as hired host agents to provide service for private properties.
Demeure has about 1,000 users and aims to reach 25,000 by the end of the year. Schwartz tells me the company’s projected revenue this year is $2 million, with a revenue run rate of $7 million by the fourth quarter of 2013.
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