Above: Kolibree’s smart toothbrush
Image Credit: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat
The Internet of Things is headed to your mouth.
Paris-based Kolibree is today launching a Kickstarter campaign for its connected electric toothbrush, a product that first caught our eye at CES in January. The company hopes to raise $70,000 by May 25, and it’s already reached $14,000 from backers at the time of this post.
Kolibree’s connected toothbrush is pretty much exactly what you’d imagine: It tracks your brushing habits and sends the data to a mobile app, which can then use that information to recommend changes to your brushing technique. It’s also a great way for parents to keep track of how well their kids brush, and it could also be useful for dentists down the line.
“There’s no other tool in history that could provide real-time brushing results to dentists,” Kolibree co-founder and CEO Thomas Serval said in an interview.
Early backers can nab one of the company’s toothbrushes for $99, and for $149, you’ll be able to choose colors other than a white brush. The company plans to ship its first set of brushes out in September.
It’s easy to write off Kolibree as yet another useless connected gadget (trust me, they’re everywhere), but Serval tells me the company has seen a surprising amount of interest from all over the world, especially developing countries. Indeed, even Oral B plans to get into the smart toothbrush game with its upcoming Smartseries line.
“Our biggest surprise was how universal a problem this [tracking brushing habits] was,” Serval said.
Below, check out a conversation we had with Kolibree’s founders at CES:
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