Square Off's core product is a deceptively classical wooden chess board that uses a hidden robotic arm and an electromagnet to move pieces and runs chess AI software built on Stockfish. Players can choose from 20 difficulty levels or play remotely through chess.com. The product began as a college project aimed at helping people with visual impairment and later broadened to mainstream consumers after Maker Faire Rome. The company ran Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that raised in excess of $600,000 and spent a year learning manufacturing in China before shipping retail. Retail shipments began in March (of the prior year), and an October Amazon launch tripled holiday sales. To date the company has sold 9,000 units at a retail price of $369, with roughly 80% of sales in the U.S. In November the company closed a $1.1 million seed round. The company plans a version 2.0 for mid-2020 to support additional tabletop games like checkers and backgammon and to open the platform to third-party developers via its app.

Total raised

$1M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Jan 2019