There is a 13-year-old eighth grader named Shubham Banerjee. He’s by no means the average junior high kid. In fact, he’s the toast of Silicon Valley and the technology world.
Banerjee makes history as the youngest entrepreneur to get approval for venture capital funding.? He’s based out of San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley. Semiconductor giant Intel, based out of nearby Santa Clara,? presented a generous fund to Banerjee to help him develop a Braille friendly printer, and an inexpensive one. It bothered the teen that printers for the blind can easily run $2,000. With his parents’ financial and moral blessing, he began playing with Legos to come up with his own Braille printer. Before long, his printer was winning him science fair contests. A couple of months ago he was at an Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco displaying his printer under corporate name Braigo Labs. There, he was told Intel would give Braigo Labs venture funding for his printer development. Shubham Banerjee is a minor, so his mother is president of Braigo Labs. With this undisclosed amount of money provided by Intel, Banerjee plans to improve his printer and come up with other prototypes to improve quality of life for the visually impaired. His Braille friendly printer is expected to cost between $350-500, a fraction of what they already cost. There’s no release date on Braigo Labs’ printer.
But I am looking forward to Braigo Labs’ printer debut. I hope it does really well. My hat goes off to this kid. My hat goes off to Intel and others in Silicon Valley who believes in his dream and supports him, and his parents for encouraging him. On a news show this morning, he says he’s far from done and they’ll be more prototypes to come. What would you like to see come from Shubham Banerjee’s Braigo Labs?