China’s AI-powered laser mosquito zapper goes viral after crowdfunding success
Photon Matrix Lab raises US$2.7 million on Indiegogo, but start of mass production delayed until August
A Chinese start-up that is developing an AI-powered laser mosquito zapper has raised US$2.7 million on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform as it navigates the challenges of complex sensor calibrations and Western safety regulations.
Photon Matrix Lab, based in Changzhou, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, has gone viral around the world with its portable laser mosquito defence system, which compresses industrial-grade lasers into a consumer device. Promising to rapidly detect and eliminate mosquitoes mid-flight using an AI-powered vision module and lidar, the crowdfunding round far exceeded its initial US$20,000 target.
Sales director Lawrence Leng said this week that Photon Matrix now had over 4,000 overseas backers from more than 50 countries, with Indiegogo saying each had paid around US$630 for the right to acquire one of the devices when they went into mass production.
Mature local supply chains helped grass-roots innovators in China repurpose military or industrial technology, such as low-cost lidar and edge computing, for everyday consumer use, Leng said.