Aira scored a big investment on Shark Tank last year, and continued to build on the momentum and viral interest that the appearance generated.
The Arizona-based outfit appeared on the ABC reality show in October 2019 to pitch its free-position wireless charging surface, earning some significant interest. They ultimately were able to get three of the investors to come together on a deal for a 15 percent share of the company in exchange for $500,000. With the episode airing again in July 2020, viewers have missed out on some major developments.
After landing half a million dollars, Aira still had more big deals to come. In January of this year, Aira appeared at the influential Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to unveil FreePower, a product that can charge multiple devices placed anywhere on the pad’s surface, AZBigMedia reported.
The tech firm’s founders, CEO Jake Slatnick and CTO Eric Goodchild, told the media news outlet that the offering drew a huge response.
“At CES in January, it was our first unveiling of the technology where we showed people what we were working on and it was a really great experience for us because the overwhelming feedback that we got from everybody was excitement,” Slatnick said.
The company has also landed a number of partners, which sell Aira’s technology along with their own offerings, like tablets. The first partner is a tech outfit called Nomad, based out of Santa Barbara, California. The partners have also continued to look at expanding to a number of other major brands, including automakers who could include FreePower in cars.
Slatnick said that Aira’s product is now on the cutting edge of the industry, believing that the approach they pioneered will eventually become the standard.
“One thing that I really believe we’re doing is evolving the wireless charging industry,” he told AZBigMedia. “This first generation of technology has come out over the past few years and we believe that this is the next generation of wireless charging which is free position, so we’re really excited as a company to help pioneer that and be a part of it.”
While the new product launches have helped Aira generate buzz within the industry and appear to be leading to some bigger deals ahead, the Shark Tank appearance helped to put Aira on the map as well. The feature from ABC helped to cause a stir on social media, including some big praise from the investors and a boost in interest from buyers.
