Skarp laser razor: Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for futuristic $4m razor cancelled

The Kickstarter campaign for the futuristic razor was one of the most successful in the site's history

The team behind the razor said it would use laser light to cut through hairs (Skarp)

The creators of the Skarp laser razor, a crowdfunded device that promised to offer a close, soap-free shave with no irritation, have been suspended from Kickstarter because they don't have a working prototype.

The Swedish team behind the razor said they needed $160,000 (£105,000) to get their futuristic and eco-friendly device off the ground.

The internet responded in a big way, and at the time of closure, the team had raised over $4 million (£2.6 million), making it one of the most successful projects in the crowdfunding site's history.

However, the campaign has been suspended, as the team has not yet been able to produce a fully-functional razor.

Kickstarter said: "After requesting and reviewing additional material from the creator of this project, we've concluded that it is in violation of our rule requiring working prototypes of physical products that are offered as rewards."

"Accordingly, all funding has been stopped and backers will not be charged for their pledges."

The team behind the razor offered a couple of demonstration videos as their campaign progressed.

However, the razor in the videos was far from a finished product - in the first video, it took a member of the team around two minutes and multiple passes to shave only a few hairs off his arm.

The team claimed that this razor was their prototype, and said they needed a "high-performance precision manufactured fibre" that they would get with the crowdfunding money to produce a more practical version. However, Kickstarter clearly weren't convinced.

And other online commentators questioned the scientific plausibility of the razor - wondering whether such a small device, running only on a single AAA battery, would even have enough power to cut hair reliably.

The team behind the Skarp razor have now created a campaign on rival crowdfunding site IndieGoGo, where (at the time of writing) they have raised $129,712 (£85,000) in only 12 hours.

Their funding goal for the new campaign is also $160,000, and they look likely to meet this target with ease. Only time will tell if the Skarp razor ever makes it to the market.