The Kiwi creators of meMINI are preparing to manufacture the wearable camera as soon as the Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign ends.

The 30-day Kickstarter campaign reported previously on TechDay, ends tomorrow (Thursday,6 February at 4pm New Zealand-time), allows meMINI supporters the chance to pay the early-bird price of US$169 – and receive their WiFi-enabled wearable camera weeks before other buyers.

So far more than US$87,000 has been raised on Kickstarter with more than 530 financial backers – enabling meMINI creators Sam Lee, of Wanaka, and Ben Bodley, of Auckland, to turn their concept into a reality.

The next step is to manufacture the product and arrange national and international distribution channels.

“Kickstarter backers will receive their meMINI cameras in the mail first, by late June, and we’re hoping it will be available for general retail by late August,” Lee says.

After Kickstarter, meMINI will retail for US$199 and can be pre-purchased at memini.com from the close of the Kickstarter campaign.

Lee and Bodley, who launched meMINI’s crowd-finding campaign at the world-famous Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, say Kickstarter has been a great platform for engaging with customers.

“It’s like communication on steroids with your customers. You’re able to receive feedback on what people like, what they don’t like, what they want and don’t want,” Lee says.

“To get that before you even make a product is fantastic. You can engage with wide demographic of customers before you completely finalise your product.”