Kickstarter Suspends Bladeless Razor Campaign That Has Raised $4M

I hate shaving my face, and I don't know a man or woman who likes the idea of pulling steel blades across any area of skin.

But I loved the idea of a bladeless, laser razor in development by Skarp Technologies that Catherine Clifford wrote about a few weeks ago for Entreprenuer.com.

In fact, I liked the idea so much that I became a backer of its Kickstarter campaign, to the tune of $189---a small price for a bladeless shaving experience in my opinion. Apparently, I wasn't alone in that thinking when you consider that the Skarp project had blasted past its initial $160,000 goal, generating more than $4 million in pledged support from more than 20,500 backers like me.

So last night, I was surprised to receive an auto responder email---embedded below---from the fine folks at Kickstarter notifying me that the laser razor project was suspended.

I don't believe I was "scammed" or "suckered" because I didn't pay any money as a result of Kickstarter's due diligence; however, I couldn't remember the last time I had heard of a crowdfunding campaign getting scuttled since a Kobe beef scam a few years back---being suspended is a rarity and according to Kickstarter it can't be reversed on their platform.

Comments from fellow backers regarding the news ranged from hopeful to conspiratory.

It's not clear what exactly sparked Kickstarter to scrutinize this campaign and give the Skarp project the boot. I emailed both companies last night to gain some clarity regarding the issue but have not heard back from either organization since.

However, after visiting the Skarp Technologies Twitter feed and Facebook page---the company had tweeted and posted that:

The Irvine, California-based company followed up this morning with a post stating that it has migrated its crowdfunding efforts over to the Indiegogo platform.

I haven't been able to find an example of a project that's been suspended from one of the major crowdfunding services only to be picked up by another.

I reached out to Indiegogo for comment as to why they decided to promote the campaign but have not heard back.

Regardless, in the seven hours since the Skarp project went live on Indiegogo, the laser razor has generated almost $65,000 toward its goal of $160,000 with nearly 450 supporters thus far.

I'm tempted to jump on board at the current $139 level of support but I'm a bit hesitant as well---Kickstarter doesn't suspend projects without cause.

Oh well, maybe I'll change my mind after this morning's shave....