$17 Million Later, Pebble Time Smartwatch Becomes Kickstarter’s Most Funded Campaign

It's often said that records are meant to be broken, and every once in a while, they're downright shattered. Case in point, the Pebble Time smartwatch is now the most funded Kickstarter campaign in the history of the crowdfunding site, having raised over $17 million from more than 67,000 backers with 18 days still remaining.

It will likely double the nearly $8.8 million raised for Exploding Kittens, the highest funded game in Kickstarter's history. And it's already collected $7 million than Pebble's own E-Paper Watch from three years ago, which at the time was also a record. But it's the Coolest Cooler that's now been eclipsed -- it raised over $13.2 million last summer and has held the record ever since.

This is a good sign for Pebble. Unlike its first go-round on Kickstarter when the concept of a smartwatch was still a mostly foreign idea to mainstream users, the category has grown some legs since then and has attracted some heavy-hitting competitors like Samsung and Apple.

It didn't take long for backers to show their support for Pebble Time.

"Seven hours in and all of us here at Pebble HQ are absolutely stunned by the enthusiasm you've had for Pebble Time. We had hoped you'd like what we've been working on...but you never know for sure until you launch! The good news is that you've made it crystal clear. And we thank you immensely for this," Pebble stated in an update.


Pebble Time sports a new color e-paper display, microphone, and up to 7 days of battery life. It's also 20 percent thinner than the original Pebble at just 9.5mm and is water resistant. It was designed to keep things simple, and the fact that it supports both iOS and Android is a major plus.