Online shop and gadget maker Quirky raised USD79 million in Series D funding to build more weird connected gadgets. This was according to a report published by VentureBeat.

The new funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, RRE, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, and Northwest Venture Partners. General Electric (GE) also contributed USD30 million to that round, the report stated.

Quirky is an online shop that crowdsources product prototypes and helps develop them. The company was founded in 2009 and is currently based in New York City. To date, it has raised approximately USD170 million, the report said.

GE formed a strategic partnership with Quirky for the development of unique connected products. These include the smart egg tray Egg Minder, smart dashboard Nimbus, all-in-one sensor Spotter, and power strip Pivot Power. The two companies are aiming to launch another 30 gadgets in the next five years, VentureBeat reported.

With the team-up, Quirky can utilize GE's patents and expertise. GE, in return, gets to reach into the market of consumer hardware startups, said the report.