What can you wrap up in ribbons? Stick in your sock? And what can you take out in public and not get thrown in the dock? The Kado phone charger, of course. This new product by Itay Hasid and Daniel Assis is making the rounds at MWC and is essentially the “world’s thinnest wall charger for smartphones.”
Obviously a wall charger isn’t that exciting but the pair raised $1.2 million to create a nearly flat wall charger with collapsible contacts and internal circuitry to manage the charge. It is about as thin as a USB port and it can charge laptops as well as mobile devices.
“Kado chargers are designed to be ultra-thin so that they can fit into a wallet, a purse or a laptop sleeve without creating a bulge,” said Hasid. “Though trends such as fast charge offer a perception of painless charging, they actually limit users’ mobility, forcing them to charge with big, heavy and fixed location chargers. Kado was envisioned to give users more freedom by simply being able to easily carry their chargers with them.”
The company is raising a Series A round to complete commercial launch in 2017.
Basically the Kado does away with the wall wart allowing you to run around with your laptop, a cable, and a thin charging brick. There are two models – the Sleeve for laptops and the Wallet for mobile devices – and they should be shipping later this year. Isn’t it awfully nice to have a charger?