washington business
Trickle Charge
Running water + USB = Hydrobee, a low-cost
device to power the world’s electronics.
Jason Hagey
A Seattle start-up aims to bring “portable, personal
power” to 1 billion people with a device that uses
running water to recharge electronics.
The last time Burt Hamner started a business, he did things
more or less the traditional way: He sought angel investors
for his idea, raised a little shy of $3 million and got started
building a company. This time around he’s doing things a
little different. Instead of angel investors, he’s looking for
stranger investors.
Specifically, Hamner is planning on seeking funding from
dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people he doesn’t know
via Kickstarter, the website that gives anyone with an Internet
connection and a credit card the opportunity to invest in a
startup.
Some of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns to
date have raised money for new high-tech gadgets, like the
Pebble smart watch, a device straight out of Dick Tracy that
uses Bluetooth to display text messages, emails and other
information from a smartphone.
But there’s almost no limit to the type of project that can
succeed on Kickstarter or similar crowd-funding sites, and
Hamner is optimistic that he can raise enough money to fund
development of his invention — a portable battery charger that
uses running water to recharge.
The charger, a soda-can-sized device dubbed Hydrobee, can
be used to recharge anything with a USB connection, including
cell phones, tablet computers, LED lights and thousands of
other electronic devices.
The device itself could be revolutionary. A former FEMA
worker who has seen Hamner’s invention said the agency could
have given away thousands of Hydrobees in the days following
Hurricane Katrina when many people were without power but
still had access to running water.
But Hamner isn’t stopping with just a revolutionary
product and a nontraditional funding mechanism. He’s
using new or nontraditional methods for virtually every
aspect of his nascent company.
Instead of leasing office space, he’s paying for a desk at HUB,
a co-working office/incubator in downtown Seattle.
at a glance
The Hydrobee name is a play on words —
hydro for water and “bee” for the “b” in USB
For most of electrified history, the goal has
been to produce as much power as possible.
The Hydrobee, a soda can-size charger,
produces very little power — but it’s enough
to charge a cell phone or LED light.
Company founder Burt Hamner is taking a
non-traditional approach to virtually every
element of his company, using crowdsourced backing, a co-working office, 3D
printing and open source development.
Burt Hamner, founder of HydroBee.
fall 2013 59