Throwing your camera is without doubt one of the worst things to do to your beloved equipment. But in the case of AER, this is definitely what you want to do. The young CreaTe startup heads to Kickstarter with this project for funding.

Simplicity is key. A big foam dart with a GoPro mounted in front of it is all it takes to make aerial footage. ‘Simplifying aerial footage’ as Pablo Trautwein (23) calls it. Together with CreaTe students Mark de Boer (21) and Nick Schijvens (23) he created the startup AER.

If you are Dutch, this story might remind you of the article I wrote for UT Nieuws in September. However this story is so interesting, I would like to share it over here with you as well. Anyway, where was I.

It all started with another project of Nick. ‘He wanted a mysterious aerial shot in his projectvideo’ explains Trautwein to me. Schijvens soon found out he was after something, and so project AER was started.

Entrepreneurial

In the innovation and entrepreneurship module of Creative Technology they developed a business plan for the project. Teamed up with IBA student Daan Wijdeveld, they worked all summer in the startup hub in the Bastille to make their dream come true.

‘It isn’t a drone replacement, but it captures aerial footage in a very peculiar manner’ explains Trautwein about the prototype. He then shows it to me. Two, now handmade, pieces of foam form the wings. A big blue knob holds a GoPro camera, but it also pushes the two foam pieces together into a big dart arrow. Then all it takes is a good throw and you get some very interesting results.

After months of hard work the moment was there to show the project to the outside world. All summer they have been teasing their product on their Instagram. Now with a final reveal trailer they were fully ready to kick off a crowdfunding campaign.

Kickstarter

‘We have a goal of 70.000 euros within 35 days’ tells Trautwein back in September. It seemed surreal for Pablo to talk about such a high amount of money. Yet the reality however shows that they have already achieved their goal within 10 days. A dream coming true for the young startup.

The super early birds were able to get AER at a pledge of 39 euros. However they were quickly sold out, and for the other early birds the price is 49 euros.

After the crowdfunding campaign they can immediately kick off production. They work with plastic production company HSV in Ede, in the Netherlands. All the designs have already been made, so after the campaign they can get started right away.

Then, in January 2017, they could already start dispatching the first AERs. An online shop will also be opened for non-Kickstarter orders.