Not long after closing on one of the most successful campaigns in the history of Indiegogo and landing another $1.5 million in seed capital, SKULLY, the motorcycle helmet with a heads-up display, has raised $11 million in Series A funding.
Walden Riverwood Ventures and Intel Capital led the round, along with participation from Formation 8, Techstars, and Western Technology Investments.
Part of the money will go towards funding the manufacturing of SKULLY’s first smart helmet, the AR-1. The Indiegogo campaign item has yet to ship and the company says it is hoping to start sending them out to early backers soon.
SKULLY is also in the midst of hiring a bunch of software and hardware engineers to help with the manufacturing process. It will likely be using the new workforce to developing future products beyond the first helmet as well. However, a source close to the company informed TechCrunch that SKULLY has a history of high turnover, and has let go of several employees in the last half year.
A spokesperson for the company said they believed SKULLY had a lower than average turnover for an SF startup.
SKULLY founder and CEO Marcus Weller wasn’t ready to discuss future plans for the company. Instead, he emphasized that SKULLY is growing and that the new funds would be used to hire more people and ship the first product.
“There are a lot of expenses involved in the manufacturing part of it. Funds from this round will help carry SKULLY through its manufacturing milestones and accelerate our technology roadmap,” Weller said.
Nicholas Brathwaite, one of the founding partners at Walden Riverwood Ventures, will take a seat on SKULLY’s board. Bringing in Braithwaite is strategic for the smart helmet startup. He was the lead investor in GoPro and is an ex-CTO of electronics manufacturer Flextronics. As such, he could lend a wider network and expertise as Skully grows.