Bluesmart
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Smart Luggage |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Tomi Pierucci, Diego Saez-Gil, Alejo Verlini, Martin Diz, Brian Chen |
| Headquarters | 729 Minna Street, San Francisco, California, United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Carry-on Luggage |
| Website |
bluesmart |
Bluesmart is a travel technology company that develops and produces Internet of Things travel products. The company is known for creating a pioneering but faulty and simple smart carry-on suitcase that communicates with a smartphone app,[1] featuring location tracking, weight sensors, digital locking and battery charging. The product raised $2.2 million USD in contributions through crowdfunding website Indiegogo becoming the highest crowdfunding project ever for a travel product at that time.[2]
History
Bluesmart was started by entrepreneurs Tomi Pierucci and Diego Saez-Gil, who after having dealt with lost luggage before, decided to create a new kind of carry-on suitcase. They enlisted industrial designer Alejo Verlini, aerospace engineer Martin Diz and operations expert Brian Chen to help build the product and company.[2] They incorporated technologies in computing, sensors and the Internet of Things on the design of the product, which hadn't been done before in the luggage industry. In October 2014 the company launched its first product on Indiegogo, asking for support of their campaign and offering pre-orders of their product as rewards.[3] The company raised more than $2.2 million USD in contributions.[4] The company was selected by Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Y Combinator to be part of its program.[5]
Products
Bluesmart's main product is the Bluesmart Smart, Connected Carry-on.[6] It has a digital lock that allows users to lock and unlock the suitcase from a phone app. The proximity sensors automatically lock the bag when it is separated from the user.[7] It contains a digital scale for users to be able to see the exact weight of their suitcases on the app, though this could be considered unneccessary because its a carry-on. Users receive distance alerts and are notified on their smartphones via SMS when they move further away from their case.[7] There is also location tracking technology that tracks the location of suitcases and is also questionably useful due to its carry-on purpose.[7] It was released to the market in August[8] 2015.
See also
- Airbus Bag2Go, a similar product announced in 2013
- Delsey, who have announced a similar product
References
- ↑ http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/20/bluesmart-connected-luggage-indiegogo-campaign/
- 1 2 http://www.tnooz.com/article/how-bluesmart-became-most-successful-crowdfunding-ever/
- ↑ http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/17/bluesmart-indiegogo/
- ↑ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bluesmart-world-s-first-smart-connected-carry-on/x/8655534
- ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/23/yc-backed-bluesmart-raises-2-million-for-its-self-tracking-suitcase/
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2014-12-20.
- 1 2 3 Hohenadel, Kristin (23 October 2014). "Track Your Bag and Charge Your Phone With This Carry-On Smart Suitcase". Slate. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- ↑ "Our Most Important Milestone So Far: We Started to Ship!". Bluesmart. Retrieved 2015-08-31.