[April 12, 2017]

Female-Founded Tech Startup, Parihug, Raises $15,000 in First Day of Crowdfunding

Parihug, the creators of internet-connected stuffed animals that let you hug loved ones from anywhere in the world, has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. The team hopes to raise $30,000 and ship the first round of product by holiday 2017.

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Parihug was founded in 2015 by now 20-year-old Xyla Foxlin, a female robotics engineer decorated with technical awards and recognition from NASA, Google (News - Alert), NCWIT and more, during a Hackathon with the goal of connecting loved ones separated by distance. When one stuffed animal is hugged, carefully disguised patent-pending sensors detect the hug and transmit a message to the other stuffed animal. The receiving stuffed animal then hugs its owner with a gentle vibration- haptic telepresence.

"I doesn't matter how quickly we can transmit data over the internet if that data carries no meaning to us as human beings," said Foxlin. "The support we've received over the past year has shown that there is a need for consumer electronics that connect us to one another on a deeper level. We look forward to using Kickstarter to bring people together through Parihug."

To learn more about Parihug, visit www.parihug.com.

About Parihug
Founded in 2015 by engineering student Xyla Foxlin to bring people together through the union of emotion and technology, Parihug creates internet connected stuffed animals that let you hug loved ones from anywhere in the world. When one stuffed animal is hugged, the other emits a gentle haptic response. The result is the release of oxytocin into the user's brain, or the "love hormone," which can only be released by physical stimuli and brings loved ones closer together than just a phone or video call. Parihug can work to bridge the distance gap between military parents, grandparents, siblings in foster care, long distance couples, etc.

On building Parihug, Foxlin said, "I first built Parihug as a hackathon project not thinking much of it, but it immediately got a lot of attention from other hackers and an SF-based VC firm who gave us $1000 grant to turn it into a startup. I still wasn't sold on starting a company, but shortly after that my university had an alumni event where they wanted to showcase recent student projects. I brought Parihug, and immediately was surrounded by grandparents telling me about how difficult it was to be so far from their grandchildren, adults who wanted to stay connected to their parents in elderly care, and countless traveling parents who felt a huge amount of guilt for being away from home so often. The authenticity in their stories made me sure this was something that someone had to pursue."

To learn more about Parihug, visit www.parihug.com.

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