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Boy inventor wins tech giant’s backing for braille printer
A schoolboy who invented a low-cost braille printer using Lego is thought to have become the youngest technology entrepreneur to have secured venture capital funding.
Intel, the world’s largest microchip manufacturer, is investing in a company founded by Shubham Banerjee, 13, of Santa Clara, California, to help him to bring his printer to market. He hopes to mass produce the device, which he believes can slash the price of a braille printer from $2,000 (£1,250) for a basic machine to about $350.
There are an estimated 285 million visually impaired people worldwide, 90 per cent of whom live in developing countries. The funding, provided by Intel, is said to be worth several hundred thousand dollars.
Braille was invented in France in the 1820s by another teenager, Louis Braille, 16. The Royal National Institute of Blind People estimates that only 4 per cent of visually impaired young people in Britain use it — partly because of the high cost of printers. “New innovations for low-cost braille printers such as this one can transform reading choices for people with sight loss,” said Clive Gardiner, head of reading and digital services at the institute.
Shubham came to prominence at age 12, when he demonstrated a prototype at the White House. He had built it from a $350 Lego robotics kit and some basic items from a hardware shop. His parents have invested $35,000 in his company, Braigo Labs Inc.
Shubham was born in Hasselt, Belgium, to Indian parents. The family moved to California when he was three and he has been an avid Lego user since he was a toddler. Unlike Braille, who went blind at age three, he can see well with glasses. His father works for Intel, but the company committee that invested in his son’s business was not aware that he did.
Asked about his career plans, Shubham said: “I have a choice between engineer, surgeon or a scientist. And what I’m going for is engineer, sort of.”
The technology industry has a history of producing young businessmen. Nick D’Aloisio, the founder of the online news aggregator Summly, was 17 when Yahoo! bought his company last year for $30 million. The Irish brothers John and Patrick Collison, who run the payments service Stripe, were 16 and 19 when they sold an earlier business to a Canadian company for $5 million.
Other young tech entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of education to build their business empires, but Shubham does not plan to follow their example. “It’s an after-school thing,” he said.