Tired of breaking your phone chargers? These UNC students can help

A Charlotte-based group of college entrepreneurs is creating a start-up business selling an ultra-durable, compact and adjustable phone charging cable called the RevoWire.

The group, which includes three UNC students, originally started designing the phone charger when they were summer interns at Eventys Partners in Charlotte.

“It’s a small entrepreneurial incubator, and they tasked our team with creating a product or service with the goal of launching a crowdfunding campaign by the end of the summer,” said Adam Kurtz, a RevoWire co-founder and UNC economics major. “We came up with some ideas and looked at what types of projects have (been) funded well and what haven't, and the idea of a phone charger really stuck out at us.”

RevoWire is resistant to fraying and has belt-like holes and a pin, so users can wrap it up neatly. It charges quickly by using larger-than-average power wires and has a reversible USB, meaning the cord will work regardless of which side of the USB is plugged in face-up. 

The charger is compatible with iPod touches, iPads and iPhones that are sixes and newer.

The group currently has one working prototype, and is using the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to fundraise for more actual RevoWires.

“Eventys has an entire engineering department and staff on hand, and a workshop there,” said Brooks Renfro, a RevoWire co-founder and peace, war and defense and political science major at UNC. “We were able to make a prototype with them, and we actually have an engineer on our staff. He’s a student at UNC-Charlotte, so he worked more closely with them.”

Including Kurtz and Renfro, there are five original founders: Aaron Foreman, Sam Sutherland and Johannes Peter. One additional team member, McCauley Palmer, joined later. Palmer is a UNC student, along with Kurtz and Renfro.

“We’re all college students ranging from a freshman here at Carolina, that’s McCauley, to a grad student who’s working on his MBA at Queens University of Charlotte,” Renfro said. 

As of Monday, RevoWire has 189 Kickstarter backers and has raised $7,140 on the website, surpassing the original goal of $5,000. The campaign met its $5,000 goal in five days.

The group hopes to start production of more RevoWires in December and ship the chargers to its backers in February. The retail price of a RevoWire will be $30.

Backers will be sent RevoWires corresponding with how much money they pledged, starting with $19 for one RevoWire.

“We have ideas on how we could extend a larger product line, but right now it’s all about funding the crowdfunding campaign to its fullest extent, which is why we’re really trying our hardest to get the word out,” said Kurtz.

The RevoWire team will host an online Q&A on Wednesday to answer the questions of backers and potential customers on Kickstarter.

@CaseyQuam

university@dailytarheel.com