GantryWorks Announces Post-Kickstarter Escrow Protection for Backers of TellyMount

GantryWorks will place funds raised from the TellyMount Kickstarter campaign into escrow as a way to provide greater safeguards for their backers. End Quote

New York, NY (1888PressRelease) May 19, 2016 - The creator of the on-going Kickstarter campaign for TellyMount, a smartphone holder for TVs, announced that it will place the funds raised from the campaign into escrow as a means to provide greater safeguards for the backers of its campaign.

While crowdfunding has been highly valuable in accelerating the development of innovative products and technologies, it has occasionally been criticized as inherently risky for backers. The choice faced by backers is whether to contribute towards a campaign in exchange for a product to be subsequently manufactured by a relatively unknown startup that may fail in developing that product. Backers may be without recourse if their funds are exhausted during product development and no further amounts are available for refunds.

Despite the fact that most crowdfunding projects are completed successfully and do not encounter issues, the possibility of being without recourse prevents many from backing projects for the first-time. "Many of the people we've spoken to love the idea of getting new products and technology first, but they want safeguards before they try crowdfunding," said Edward Wu, co-founder of GantryWorks, the startup behind TellyMount. The escrow arrangement for TellyMount may lead first-time backers, and even repeat backers, to feel more comfortable about trying crowdfunding.

With respect to the mechanics of the escrow arrangement, GantryWorks will disburse all the funds received from Kickstarter to Wilmington Trust, National Association, who will serve as escrow agent. GantryWorks will then proceed to finalize development and production while using its own funds to satisfy all interim costs, including tooling expenses. The escrow funds will be disbursed to GantryWorks after shipment of TellyMount begins. In the extraordinarily unlikely event that shipment of TellyMount to backers has not begun within two years, backers can opt to receive refund distributions from the escrow funds.

While there may be no way to entirely eliminate all the risks of crowdfunding, the novel escrow arrangement for TellyMount's campaign provides substantially greater protection for backers. For more information on TellyMount or to back the campaign, visit TellyMount's Kickstarter page (www.kickstarter.com/projects/gantryworks/tellymountbetter-video-calls-and-motion-games-on).

###

space

Other Related Press Releases