EU Business News Q1 2019

30 EU BUSINESS NEWS / Q1 2019 , Cutting-Edge Tech Accessory Vonmählen shatters Kickstarter crowdfunding target and plans retail sales of its High Five® the compact 5in1 charging cable for mid-2019 German start-up Vonmählen is planning to start the retail sales of its new cutting-edge tech accessory High Five®, the 5in1 charging cable, in mid-2019. The first mass production was successfully completed and arrived safely at the warehouse in Germany. Vonmählen is set to ship the High Five® to the backers of the ongoing crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The campaign on Kickstarter has already raised over fivefold times its target – a total of € 84,438. Vonmählen’s crowdfunding campaign will run till February 17, 2019. High Five® eliminates the need to carry several charging cables for different smartphones and end devices. The 5in1 charging cable can charge all common mobile devices and is specifically designed to attach to any key ring. It consists of a USB-A connector and a cable with the connections for USB-C, Micro- USB and Lightning. The in-house design team at Vonmählen was able to engineer High Five® to provide five different connection options in one compact cable, including a 2in1 connector and cross-power technology. The crowdfunding campaign succeeded at introducing the tech accessory to mobile device users worldwide. The funds from the campaign will ensure the success of the next stages: production, distribution and logistics. “We are pleased with the success of the first mass production test involving a trial run of several thousand High Fives® and we are on track with our target to launch retail sales in mid-2019,” says Sascha Hermann, head of marketing at Vonmählen. The company listened to the feedback from the tech community and decided to add two versions to the current campaign. The first version is a High Five® that offers the UBS-C to UBS-C connection. The cable ends are USB-C connectors that plug into the USB-A body. In addition, Vonmählen presents a High Five® made of ABS (highly resistant and durable plastic material) that allows for further personalization by letting users choose from our color range orange, red, pink, blue, green, or black for the entire High Five®. During the campaign, High Five® was featured in over 50 media outlets in more than 20 countries. On top of the media coverage, the 5in1 charging cable recently received the prestigious iF Design Award, with the official presentation to be made on March 15th. The design was developed in collaboration with Emami Design under the direction of Arman Emami.The Berlin-based design agency Emami Design has received more than 79 international awards to date and has topped the RED- DOT rankings for best design concepts for ten straight years among design agencies from all over Europe and North America.