$1m Crowdfunded Robot Dragonfly Crash-Lands

The company behind Robot Dragonfly, one of the earliest crowdfunding success stories, raising over $1 million via Indiegogo back in 2012, is in desperate financial trouble, leaving the project on the verge of collapse. TechJect, the team behind the Robot Dragonfly, which was available to backers for just $99, revealed that funds have dried up, blaming both Indiegogo and PayPal for not releasing money raised via the crowdfunding campaign in time.

“The Project has NOT stopped. We have held development forward until funds are replenished through sources (any source),” a post on TechJect’s Indiegogo page reads.

The Robot Dragonfly Indiegogo campaign was one of the most successful ever, raising 1,037% of its funding target, to the tune of $1,140,975, when it closed on 31st December, 2012. Constant delays to the development of the Dragonfly over the last three years, though, has made some backers irate, with TechJect revealing that there’s been “a lot of confusing statements and a lot of name calling,” asking backers “to realize these systems are at the end of the day people like everyone else [sic].”

In a message to disgruntled backers chasing a refund, TechJect directs them towards Indiegogo and PayPal, since it is them that is holding on to the funds. “There is no possibility of a refund through TechJect, first because our contracts are with PayPal and Indiegogo,” the team writes. “Your contract are with PayPal and Indiegogo, there is no direct contract between supporters and campaigns. All suits and cases have to be filed against either PayPal and Indiegogo and the rest of the information will flow through those channels.”

TechJect, however, insists that “The Project has NOT stopped.”