a shenzhen-based drone maker crowdfunded over us$3 million (us$459,300) for its new consumer drone, marking the most successful crowdfunding for a consumer drone worldwide, the shenzhen economic daily reported thursday.
the new consumer drone, known as the world's smallest of its kind, was developed and manufactured by onagofly based in shenzhen. xu pan, the general manager of onagofly, said the company has raised us$3.43 million through a crowdfunding website.
onagofly drones were shipped from shenzhen to over 100 countries over the spring festival.
onagofly raised over us$150,000 on indiegogo, the u.s.-based crowdfunding website, on dec. 9 last year within 18 hours. the brand obtained us$2.9 million in funds from more than 5,000 supporters from 100 counties.
the company also raised 3.5 million yuan on jd.com from over 10,000 users within a month.
"we plan to produce 600,000 drones this year, and hopefully we can make it to 800,000 drones," xu said, adding that the sales volume of the drone is expected to reach us$100 million globally.
there are over 1,000 drone manufacturers in china, with 300 of them based in shenzhen.
statistics from the shenzhen customs show that the export value of drones from shenzhen was 3.09 billion yuan last year, seven times that in 2014, while hong kong, the u.s. and the european union became the main consumer markets, according to the report.
