Bluesmart is a global travel technology company that develops and produces Internet of Things travel products. The brand launched a carry-on suitcase, the Bluesmart One, on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo in 2014. The campaign raised $2.2 million USD in contributions and became the highest crowdfunding project ever for a travel product at that time. In 2016, the brand released the premium Bluesmart Black Edition carry-on. On June 27, 2017 after a week-long pre-launch campaign, Bluesmart announced the launch of their Series 2 products on Indiegogo featuring a new and improved Cabin, a large Checked suitcase, a smart Laptop Bag and Passport Pouch.
Video Bluesmart
History
Developing Bluesmart
Bluesmart was started by entrepreneurs Tomi Pierucci, Diego Saez-Gil and industrial designer Alejo Verlini in August 2013. Having dealt with the pains of having their luggage lost while traveling, they noticed that while the travel industry had made significant progress over the past 100 years, since wheels were added to suitcases there had been very little innovation in the luggage industry. They incorporated technologies in computing, sensors and the Internet of Things on the design of the product.
Crowdfunding campaign
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. The company met its goal in 2 hours and broke records in the Hardware category by pre-selling 10,000 units to 114 countries and collecting more than $2.2 million USD in contributions. In November 2014, while their extended Indiegogo campaign was still going, the company was selected by Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Y Combinator to be part of its program.
Production of the first smart carry-On
After Bluesmart's manufacturing prototype passed its first reliability tests in June 2015, they set up a Mass Production division and local team in China which quickly grew to 15 employees. Bluesmart began shipping what would be known as the Bluesmart One in August 2015. Soon after, Bluesmart were awarded the Red Dot Best of the Best Design Award category. As their suitcases reached the campaign backers, they closed retail partnerships with the MoMA Design Store, Bloomingdale's, Saks 5th Avenue and Selfridges.
Maps Bluesmart
Products
Bluesmart products include the Bluesmart Smart, Connected Carry-on which features both the Bluesmart One and Bluesmart Black Edition. There is also the Bluesmart app which controls the suitcase. The core technology of the smart carry-on cases includes 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. Users receive distance alerts and are notified on their smartphones when they move a distance away from their case, that is preset by the user. It contains a digital scale for users to be able to see the exact weight of their suitcases on the app. There is also location tracking technology that tracks the location of suitcases globally utilizing 3G+GPS and cellular networks. In June 2017, Bluesmart introduced its Series 2 products including the Bluesmart Cabin, Check, Laptop Bag and Passport Pouch. They also announced the upgrading of the user experience, architecture and functionality of the Bluesmart App.
See also
- Airbus Bag2Go, a similar concept announced in 2013
- Delsey, who have announced a similar product
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia