Startup Village firm's smart oven hits crowd funding target in six days

A 'smart' microwave oven built by a campus startup at the Startup Village in Kalamassery has met its crowd-funding target of $50,000 in just six days of the campaign's launch, and is now cruising towards its stretch goal of $150,000.

Sector Qube, founded by a group of engineering students three years ago, began the funding campaign for their flagship product MAID (Make All Incredible Dishes) on Kickstarter on October 29. With 16 days left for the campaign to close, they have raised nearly $90,000 from over 250 funders.

Company's chief executive officer Nibu Alias said they had set a stretch goal of $150,000 for their backers but hope to raise around $200,000 by December 3.

MAID is a smart microwave oven connected to a social, crowd-sourced 'recipe store' on the internet. The oven can read out the selected recipe and display the step-by-step procedure while intuitively choosing the time and temperature needed for cooking. A MAID mobile app installed in the phone alerts the user when the dish is done. There is also an option to switch to manual mode to use MAID like a regular oven.

MAID is the third innovative product from Startup Village, after 'Fin' of RHL Vision and 'Rico' of MindHelix, to successfully raise money from a crowd funding platform for commercial production.

"Innovative products from Startup Village are grabbing attention world over. We are thrilled by the way the youngsters are moulding up at Startup Village," said Startup Village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar.

SectorQube was set up in October 2011 by Sabarish Prakash, Nibu Alias, Ani Abraham Joy, Arjun S, Midhun Skaria and Biniyas VL - all BTech students at Kochi-based Toc H Institute of Science and Technology. The company operates in the domain of electronics with the concept - Android beyond Apps.

"If the campaign crosses our stretch goal of $150, 000 we will also release a MAID probe, a wireless temperature probe to measure food temperature and make adjustments automatically to avoid undercooking or overcooking of food," said chief operating officer Ani Abraham Joy.