A product based on Mark Zuckerberg's 'sleep box' invention has raised $100,000 on Kickstarter
- A glowing wooden box Mark Zuckerberg invented to help his wife sleep has been developed into an actual product by an entrepreneur.
- In his original Facebook post about the box, the Facebook CEO encouraged entrepreneurs to take his idea and run with it.
- The "Zucklight" has secured more than $100,000 in backing on crowdfunding site Kickstarter since it went live in June.
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A product inspired by a DIY invention of Mark Zuckerberg's has raked in more than $100,000 in funding from Kickstarter.
Zuckerberg revealed in April that he had invented a glowing wooden box to help his wife, Priscilla Chan, with insomnia. The Facebook CEO called it the "sleep box."
"It sits on her nightstand, and between the hours of 6-7 a.m. it emits a very faint light - visible enough that if she sees it she'll know it's an okay time for one of us to get the kids, but faint enough that the light won't wake her up if she's still sleeping. And since it doesn't show the time, if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she knows to just go back to sleep without having to worry about what time it is," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
In the same post, Zuckerberg urged others to take up the torch. "I'm putting this out there in case another entrepreneur wants to run with this and build sleep boxes for more people," he wrote.
Someone has done exactly that. A Kickstarter campaign launched in June for a product called the "Zucklight" has now garnered over $112,000 in funding, well over its original goal of $5,000 - which a spokesperson told CNBC was achieved within two hours of the page going live.
According to the Zucklight's page, the box can be controlled in conjunction with an app, that lets users control timings, brightness, and the colour of the light. Some versions of the box (it comes in "lite," "plus," and "pro") contain a wireless charger for smartphones. Early bird pricing for the Zucklight starts at $29, just under half the expected retail price of $60.
The entrepreneur behind the Zucklight is called Greg Hovannisyan, who told CNBC that he's had no contact with Zuckerberg himself. "Mark [Zuckerberg] is not affiliated with Zucklight in any way. We loved his idea, developed it even more and brought it to life," said Hovannisyan.
Here is the product trailer for the Zucklight:
Facebook was not immediately available to comment on the Zucklight.