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

Internet-connected Stuffed Animals Connect Loved Ones Through
Long-Distance Hugs Using Patent-Pending Sensor System and Advanced
Haptics

CLEVELAND–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#kickstarter—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.

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, 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.

“It 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.

Contacts

For Parihug
Xyla Foxlin, 617-417-1526
xyla@parihug.com
or
PR
Contact:
Katie Volney, 612-333-1723
katie@lolared.com