Misfit, Inc. was a Redwood City, California-based consumer electronics company founded on 14 October 2011 by Sonny Vu, Sridhar Iyengar and John Sculley. It specialized in wearable technology that utilizes sensors and home automation products. Misfit's wearable activity trackers and count sleep, calories, and basic steps that can be synced to a mobile app on a compatible smartphone. Vu and Iyengar previously co-founded AgaMatrix, a company that made the iBGStar, the first FDA approved Smartphone medical device. In November 2015, Misfit was acquired for $260 million by Fossil Group.
History Misfit was founded on 14 October 2011. Its name honors Steve Jobs, who died nine days before the company was founded. It was inspired by the 1997 commercial which debuted Apple's "Think Different" slogan: "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes." Misfit's first product, Shine, launched via an Indiegogo campaign in 2012. The campaign reached its goal of $100,000 within ten hours, and raised $846,675 in its campaign that lasted just over two months. The co-founders used the crowdsourcing campaign to get feedback about the product and the market for activity trackers and wearable technology. In April 2012, Misfit raised $7.6 million in its Series A funding. In December 2013, Misfit secured $15.2 million in Series B funding for research and development of products that are expected to be released in 2014. The Series B funding round was headed by Li Ka-shing's Horizons Ventures and joined by Translink Capital and The Coca-Cola Company. Previous investors including Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Max Levchin and IncTANK Ventures also participated in the company’s series B round.
The company released Flash, a water resistant fitness band with battery life of about 6 months, in November 2014. Later that year, a health insurance company offered discounts to customers who reached exercise goals set by the company, as measured by a Misfit band. In January 2015, Misfit announced that it was moving beyond fitness to home automation and smartphone controls. Users of Misfit's Flash and Shine wearable will be able to control light bulbs, door locks, thermostats, and home entertainment centers from their wearable device. In April 2015, the company launched the Misfit 2.0 app update which included integrations of other applications such as Spotify and Yo, and the ability to sync with home automation products like Beddit. In November 2015, Misfit was acquired by Fossil Group for $260 million. Following the acquisition, Misfit announced the release of Ray, a jewelry-like activity tracker, and Specter Bluetooth earbuds—the company's first headphones product. In 2019 or early 2020 Fossil Group discontinued production of all existing Misfit products and shutdown the website pending relaunch. Misfit's technology was used as the basis for Skagen CONNECTED and Fossil hybrid smartwatches as well as hybrid smartwatch licensed products: A/X CONNECTED (Armani Exchange), Emporio Armani CONNECTED and other licensed products.
Partnerships Misfit partnered with Coca-Cola to launch Coca-Cola Red Shine activity trackers for the company’s North American rewards program. They were also behind the Coca-Cola summer 2013 campaign “Get the Ball Rolling.” In 2014, Misfit partnered with Coke’s hospitality program for the 2014 Olympic Games by distributing Shines to Olympians, VIP guests, and fans along the Olympic Torch Relay. In July 2014, Misfit announced that their Shine fitness tracker would support Finnish technology company Beddit's sleep trackers as part of a partnership between the two companies. After Victoria's Secret launched its VS Sport line, the women’s clothing and lingerie company partnered with Misfit to produce a VS-inspired pink Shine. In 2015, Misfit announced a partnership with Swarovski to launch a Swarovski Shine Collection that combines Swarovski’s crystal jewelry with Misfit’s Shine. The line has two wearable products, one of which is the first solar-powered activity tracker produced by Misfit. The wearables are both waterproof and the line also has nine additional accessories all jointly designed by both companies. Misfit partnered with Speedo in 2015 to release the Speedo Shine, a water resistant activity tracker that can monitor a swimmer's laps in a pool, as well as other daily activities and sleep.
Products
Shine The Shine was the flagship product produced by Misfit. It is an activity tracker, made of aircraft grade aluminum that gives users insights into how much they are moving and sleeping. Misfit released a companion iPhone app to track fitness goals to coincide with Shine's launch. In December 2013, Misfit released its Shine Android app. Shine is capable of tracking a variety of activities including walking, running, cycling, swimming and sleeping. Shine also tracks sleep depth. Shine is about the size of two quarters and can be worn in a variety of ways, including a wristband, necklace or attached to clothing via a magnetic clip. It is water resistant up to fifty meters and does not require charging. In November 2015, Shine 2 was launched. The second generation device is thinner than its predecessor, has a different type of lights on its face, and adds the ability to configure vibrating alarms and notifications, but otherwise maintains the same features and battery life.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
