Dragon Innovation, a manufacturing services firm, today launched a crowdfunding platform exclusively for hardware companies. Building on its foundation of providing services and support during the planning and production phases of new product development, Dragon Innovation is expanding the scope of its offering to include a crowdfunding platform. Today officially opens up the private beta period with several innovative hardware products seeking funding.

'Dragon Innovation acts as a trail guide to help navigate the decisions and drama of producing hardware,' said Bre Pettis, CEO, MakerBot. 'The Dragon team helped us quickly take our manufacturing operation from hundreds to thousands.'

To continue its mission, Dragon Innovation closed a $2.3 million round of financing led by Flybridge Capital Partners and Foundry Group, with additional backing from The Box Group, Lerer Ventures and Undercurrent Ventures.

'Entrepreneurs looking to launch hardware products face a unique set of challenges throughout the product development process,' said Matt Witheiler, principal, Flybridge Capital Partners. 'With years of experience in building hardware products, Scott and the Dragon team bring an understanding of the process that is a true differentiator. From planning and partnerships, to manufacturing and production, Dragon offers the first true end-to-end platform for hardware startups to successfully launch innovative new products -- something I am passionate about as a seven-year veteran of the hardware space myself.'

Manufacturing hardware in volume is complex, and for first-time entrepreneurs, comes with many unknowns. It takes years of experience to learn and understand the key elements required to succeed. The Dragon Innovation team offers more than 200+ years of combined experience bringing products to the shelves with expertise in: design for manufacturing, request for quote (RFQ), factory selection, project management, costing, sourcing, quality control and manufacturing.

'Getting hardware products successfully to market requires more than just the initial funding,' said Seth Levine, managing director, Foundry Group. 'To help entrepreneurs succeed, they need the tools, services and relationships to deliver a viable product. Dragon Innovation has helped a number of Foundry portfolio companies prep products to be manufactured and find the best contract manufacturers to do the work. It's a natural extension for us to support Dragon Innovation's mission to take crowdfunding to a new level that sets entrepreneurs up for continued success.'

Sign up for an invitation to learn more about the first wave of disruptive hardware products launched on the Dragon Innovation crowdfunding site.

'We love helping hardware entrepreneurs succeed and making high-value connections to experts and communities. We are thrilled to have helped over 100 hardware companies bring their products to life -- including MakerBot, Orbotix, Pebble, Romotive and Sifteo,' said Scott N. Miller, co-founder and CEO, Dragon Innovation. 'Hardware is hard, and we saw a need within the current crowdfunding environment to provide a proven process to help entrepreneurs succeed along every step of the journey bringing product to market. The way new products are created is changing, and we're excited to embrace this new method of bringing ideas to life.'

About Dragon Innovation, Inc.
Based in Boston and China, Dragon Innovation guides hardware entrepreneurs at every stage of the product development cycle. Through its proven process, Dragon Innovation gives entrepreneurs a clear path forward to launch and scale their companies, so they can get their products into their customers' hands. For more information, visit www.DragonInnovation.com.