Parihug

Parihug was a company founded by Xyla Foxlin in January 2016. Parihug was built on the prototype of a Bluetooth and sensor-equipped teddy bear called Pari, which was unveiled by Foxlin at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, the same month of the company's founding. The Pari bear was designed to pair with a second bear so two users could "send hugs" to each other from far away. Such a concept is popular with long-distance couples or family members that live far apart.

Parihug was founded in January 2016 after Foxlin unveiled her creation of a Bluetooth-paired huggable teddy bear at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, an annually held invitation-only show where new and innovative technology products in various consumer electronics categories are displayed. The product was received well, which inspired Foxlin to establish Parihug as a company that same month. Parihug launched a Kickstarter campaign for its funding on April 10, 2017. Just a week after launching, the campaign reached its original funding goal and started to aim for stretch goals. Parihug reached its new funding goals in mid-May 2017 and announced a tentative shipping goal for December 2017. All in all, Parihug raised $53,415 from 389 backers. The shipping date was pushed to the beginning of 2018 after some of Parihug's engineering team left the company.

In May 2018, Foxlin announced via an update on the company's Kickstarter campaign page that production of Pari bears would cease indefinitely, citing concerns about recent toy hacks at the time. Some Pari bears had already been produced and shipped. The company offered a refund to all customers who had ordered a large-size Pari bear; they had also created a small-size bear that still shipped as planned. Due to the long time lapse between the beginning of the campaign and its cancellation, some purchasers did not receive refunds because the credit cards they used to donate had been cancelled or expired; still, some other backers who said their card information was still active said they did not receive refunds either.

A promotional image of a Pari bear.

Designed to pair with another bear, Pari bears were equipped with sensors and Bluetooth technology that would set off a bear's sensor when its paired bear was hugged by the other user. The sensors were fabric-based to keep the bear soft and huggable. When one user hugged their Pari bear, the paired bear would receive the signal through its sensor and vibrate to alert the recipient, who would then hug the bear and receive a hug back from it. Pari bears were designed as zipper pouches with all electronic parts inside a removable bag that could be taken out for easy cleaning of the bear.