OnePlus co-founder Carl Pay knows two or three things about the community. In the Chinese smartphone maker, Pei has fielded and featured fans ’ideas and frequently assembled to hear their reactions to his new venture, Nothing, Pei is one-step further.
The London-based agency said on Tuesday it would allow its community to invest $1.5 million in the company through a community equity round early next month. Pei said a member of the community would always selected by the board to “check” and keep it strong and remind it of “what users want”.
The startup, which recently raised $15 million in Round A series from Alphabet GV, said it would raise money from the community in the same assessment described in Series Round. (The startup has amassed an additional $7 million dollars from Kunal Shah of Credit, principal of Future Shape and inventor of the iPod, well-known YouTuber Cassie Neistat, Kevin Lynn, co-founder of Twitch, and high-profile executives.) Steve Hoffman, chief executive of Reddit.
“We want our community to be part of our journey from the very beginning and play an active role in it,” said Pei, who serves as Nothing’s chief executive. Pre-registrations on the financing option will open at 10 a.m. GMT on February 16 and the promotion will air live on March 2 at 10 a.m. GMT.
Pei still shared what products he would like to tackle in his new venture. So far, he said, the startup plans to develop a pair of wireless headphones and smart and connected consumer electronics devices.
TechCrunch asked him why he could not do all this at OnePlus. “When you want to create something new and different, the best way is to start with a clean sheet and a change of environment.”
This week, 9to5 Google reported that Android maker Andy Rubin’s now-essential Essential has failed to achieve anything trademark.
