It has been a whirlwind 18 months for Andrew Hagen and Kingsley Fiegert.


The former property developers-turned entrepreneurs have sacrificed a lot of time, and money, to develop an idea they believed in. And now it’s coming to fruition.

When WestBusiness first caught up with the duo in February last year, their Fly6 project — a world-first cycling camera and tail-light accessory — raised $260,000 from crowd-funding site Kickstarter.

Colloquially known as a “dickhead locator”, the HD camera and light allows cyclists to record what is going on behind them for up to five hours. They have now sold 15,000 of them.

And, unsurprisingly, they have taken the logical progression — to the handlebars.

The duo — who have added four staff and are now known as Cycliq — invented the Fly12 in June, a front-facing light and camera which records on loop.

This month, their Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the product closed at $668,721 — the third most-successful funding pitch from the website in Australia — and they are looking to push the product out in November.

“It proves it’s a product that people want, and the business is viable” Mr Hagen said. “Funding is critical for a start-up, and we’ve been lucky to get the response we’ve had.

“It’s a simple idea but still no one has copied us and I’m still amazed by that.”

 

© The West Australian

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