05-30-2013: Buccaneer 3D debuted on Kickstarter
The record-breaking campaign, which ended in a scandalous fiasco
On May 30, 2013, the Singaporean startup Pirate3D launched the laudest crowdfunding campaign of that year on Kickstarter, receiving nearly $1.5 million in funding for the development of a revolutionary 3D printer - Buccaneer 3D. Unfortunately, the company's career lasted only two years - during this time Pirate3D delivered only 40% of the ordered 3D printers, most of which either did not work or offered terrible quality. Here's a brief history of this scandalous fiasco.
Buccaneer is one of the most embarrassing campaigns in the history of Kickstarter. In mid-2013, an unknown company from Singapore - Pirate3D - announced that it intended to release a beautiful, low-budget 3D printer printing in FFF technology on the market for an incredibly low price of $347. Not only did the device look amazing compared to other devices of that time, but it was also supposed to communicate via a smartphone via WiFi and be the most automated and easiest-to-use 3D printer in the world.
The 3D printing industry has exploded with euphoria and enthusiasm. The Kickstarter campaign was a mere formality - the requested $100,000 was raised within 10 minutes of the campaign launch. Ultimately, the Singaporeans ended the fundraising with an impressive result of $1,438,765, which was then the fourth best result in the history of Kickstarter in the technology category and the second "most expensive" 3D printer after The Form 1.
After this spectacular success, the Pirates remained silent for a long time... They only spoke up in late autumn of the same year, declaring that... the 3D printer would be twice as expensive as the initial announcements and would cost $697. Of course, this was met with a wave of criticism, and a group of donors began to officially consider a class action lawsuit.
A year later, it was practically over... Not only were the delays in delivering the finished devices absurdly long, but it turned out that Buccaneer, despite its beautiful packaging and fantastic appearance, printed hopelessly, or even more often, not at all. An insurmountable problem was the 3D printer head that constantly clogged and blocked.
In October 2015, the company's CEO, Brendan Goh, finally dispelled any doubts about the future of Pirate3D by announcing that the company was unable to deliver the missing 60% of Kickstarter orders because it run out of cash…
Although few people remember it today, Buccaneer 3D was one of the most groundbreaking projects for the growth of the popularity of desktop 3D printing in the world. The success on Kickstarter inspired many more companies to follow in Pirates' footsteps. In the end, it's a pity they didn't work out...
Source: www.kickstarter.com