News / Entrepreneurs
Bristol inventors go global with social distancing gadget
An innovative gadget to aid social distancing that was developed by two friends at their kitchen table in Clifton is now being sold around the world.
Childhood friends Harry Kimberley-Bowen and Ronan Finnegan launched SpaceBands in March 2020 with a key focus to help businesses stay open during the pandemic by alerting users when they get too close to each other.
The 26-year-old entrepreneurs have now sold more than 50,000 products to upwards of 1,000 companies in 30 countries across five continents and have secured the UK government tender for social distancing devices.
Having been entirely self-funded up to now, the pair are about to launch a crowdfunding campaign with a £600,000 target to help with the next stage of business growth, which will include launching a new workplace safety device in a bid to ensure the longevity of the venture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzdBkY9-88
“It’s been an absolute whirlwind of a year so far, and to think how far we’ve come from setting up the business in a few weeks in the first lockdown from my kitchen is overwhelming,” says Harry, who met Ronan at school in Bath 15 years ago.
“In just six weeks, as a team of two, we designed and created the SpaceBands device (software, firmware and hardware), built and launched the SpaceBands app (on iOS and Android) and launched our website. Most businesses would have much larger teams with much more time to create a similar wearable, but time was really of the essence to be first to market for such an in-demand product – so we made sure we won this race.”
Harry continues: “We are now the market leaders in social distancing technology, despite bigger and more established businesses moving into this space. Our customers include leading businesses such as Amazon, NHS Business Services, MoD, Sony and British American Tobacco. We work with businesses across a vast range of sectors; such as manufacturing, media production, construction, education, cruise ships and offices to help them operate through the pandemic.”
SpaceBands were developed in a matter of weeks and launched in March 2020 – photo courtesy of SpaceBands
SpaceBands alert users when they get too close to each other and then store details of these interactions for accurate tracing in the workplace. The devices use Bluetooth signal and have no GPS tracking feature at all to maintain privacy of users.
Harry and Ronan are now working with their global customer base to shape their new ‘workplace safety wearable’, which is not related to Covid-19 and will launch next month.
Harry and Ronan developed the gadget at their kitchen table in Clifton – photo courtesy of SpaceBands
Main photo courtesy of SpaceBands
Read more: The Bristol entrepreneurs developing tech to help combat climate change
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
