This “Airbnb For ingenious tools” Will appoint You Drones, Oculus Rifts, Google Glass, extra
big apple-primarily based startup Kitsplit is right here to lend a hand artists. “We want to serve the indie inventive business,” a cofounder tells us.
March 6, 2015 a brand new startup is making a bet that the creative classification will flock to hire drones, Google Glass headsets, excessive-end cameras, and Oculus Rift techniques on-line. big apple-based KitSplit is a self-declared “Airbnb for inventive gear” that allows manufacturing companies, studios, and person artists to lease out their unused gear for brief-term sessions. the corporate, which launched in December, takes a 15% fee from the apartment of apparatus leased on-line. As of this writing, greater than $1 million worth of cameras, drones, and other high-finish inventive tools are on hand through the service.
“I had this idea since i’m someone who rents gear so much and do plenty of tech-associated artwork and installations,” says cofounder Kristina Budelis, a former New Yorker video producer whose “Drone booth” we in the past coated. “I’m at all times renting or borrowing things, which will get dear and time ingesting.” Cofounder Lisbeth Kaufman added that the website was designed to offer a more streamlined expertise, on hand to a much broader target market than just chums or work contacts, for the informal leasing of specialized gear used by videographers.
A DJI Phantom drone can be rented for $one hundred fifty for twenty-four hours, a high-end purple Scarlet-X digicam for $395, and a Google Glass headset for $30. while lots of the items KitSplit contributors hire belong to the camera domestic, there are additionally Arduino programs, microphones, and production RVs for employ. to be able to rent gear, buyers should signal a contract protecting them financially accountable if the tools is damaged or stolen.
in the meanwhile, KitSplit continues to be geared towards a smaller target market. leases are mostly restricted to the new York metropolitan area for now, and Kaufman and Budelis are nonetheless figuring out the logistics for supply of apparatus. web page users currently have to prepare to select up and drop off equipment themselves. much like Airbnb, the founders underscore the vetting of customers. potential users need to submit LinkedIn or facebook information, and give an explanation for why they are excited by participating locally.
“We need to serve the indie inventive industry,” Budelis introduced. “many of our participants are traditional filmmakers, however for folks working with Oculus Rift, it’s even harder. We’re even seeing growing overlap between these communities—particularly in New York city.”
the company is part of a larger wave of startups offering low-price leases to creative employees. In California, the place drone pictures has made (quasi-criminal) inroads within the entertainment and real property industries, a couple of companies supply drone leases. there may be additionally numerous providers offering high-end digicam leases. however KitSplit is among the first making use of the Airbnb or Uber version to the trade.
KitSplit is currently in beta and plans a public launch later in 2015. the company has obtained logistical fortify from big apple ladies in movie & television, InSITE fellowships, the DogFish accelerator, Troma leisure, and the large imaginative and prescient Empty pockets ingenious collective.
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