Ushahidi’s BRCK reaches and surpasses its Kickstarter goal

Well this is super cool. The Ushahidi initiative that hopes to connect users the internet no matter where you are and without electricity has done it: the project has raised more than US$125 000 on Kickstarter.

BRCK which is described as “the easiest, most reliable way to connect to the internet, anywhere in the world, even when you don’t have electricity,” reached and surpassed its goal last night.

“At 10:40am PST, we crossed our $125 000 mark with our 814th contributor. We have now rewarded over 430 BRCKs. This is huge. We are blown away by the support for this product, and can’t wait to put a BRCK in each of your hands,” announced the team yesterday with eight days left on the project.

According to the team, the gadget, which could be described as mobile router, works as a backup generator for the internet. The device is supposedly able to connect to the internet intelligently and seamlessly, hopping between Ethernet, Wifi, and any available 3G or 4G mobile phone network.

The next few days are as crucial as the last 22 for the team. They feel that the more people use the upcoming days the likely they are to provide necessary parties with the device:

There are people all over the world who could use a BRCK, but have not yet heard about us. We need to keep spreading the word, keep sharing the story. The BRCK is not just another hardware product. This product came out of Kenya, it was prototyped and built in Nairobi. Making the BRCK has also required building hardware expertise and the tools in Kenya. The success of the BRCK shows that good ideas can come from anywhere, and that change happens on the fringe. Building hardware is hard, proving that it can be done somewhere like Nairobi, is a phase-change moment for technology. Supporting the BRCK is supporting a new kind of innovation and development.

Currently the project has raised more than US$127 000 with around 834 backers.