Rockport entrepreneur sets new Kickstarter record
Contributed / ORION4Sight
The ORION4Sight sunglasses are a "spin-off version of the patented ORION Optical Eyewear Filters used by the U.S. military."
The clock is still ticking for John Galley’s Kickstarter campaign to commercialize his best friend’s high-tech, military-grade “sunglasses on steroids.” But the Rockport entrepreneur has already set a record on the popular crowdfunding website.
With more than $286,000 raised, the campaign for the ORION4Sight high-tech specs is now the most funded Maine-related crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. It’s also the most funded sunglasses product and the fourth most funded project in the wearables category — a category of cutting-edge technology that has been steadily rising in popularity.
As of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, the campaign has exceeded its initial $9,000 goal with 2,399 backers, with only 60 hours left to raise funds.
Galley, a self-described “recovering lawyer” who’s been living in Maine for 17 years, told Mainebiz that the venture is a partnership between him and Kirk Kreutzig, an inventor who holds four patents for optical technology and owns Spectrum Technologies, an Illinois-based company that sells high-tech filters for eyewear and weapon sights, along with other optical equipment, to the U.S. military.
As explained on the Kickstarter page, the ORION4Sight sunglasses are a “spin-off version of Kreutzig’s patented ORION Optical Eyewear Filters used by the U.S. military and are specifically formulated to provide an enhanced vision experience that has been independently evaluated,” surpassing polarizing lenses currently available on the market.
“We’ve known for years that the big enchilada for us would be to switch from the military contracting world to a much larger consumer oriented world,” said Galley, who has known Kreutzig since they were teenagers and has since served as an investor and general counsel for Spectrum Technologies. “This technology is very well suited for the product.”
Galley said the plan is to sell the sunglasses directly to consumers through Amazon.com, rather than selling them wholesale through retail stores. Part of the reason for that decision, he added, is because the company doesn’t want to risk having retail buyers drive the product’s price down and inevitably force the company to follow suit. He said working with Amazon will also cut down on costs and regulatory headaches for distribution.
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