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DRAPER — For anyone who has struggled to remember their padlock combination or find the key, two Utah men have created a solution that raised over $83,000 in nine hours of fundraising.
Draper residents Cameron Gibbs and David Gengler said they started their company, FUZ Designs, almost a year and a half ago. The men had gained experience with Bluetooth capabilities while working for another company and decided to continue creating new products using the technology.
“We found this opportunity to launch this product (after) coming up with this idea and seeing the various uses of Bluetooth and how they are being used on door locks and wireless keys to get into cars and deadbolts,” Gibbs said. “No one had really done a Bluetooth padlock, and it’s something we thought people would find useful.”
The men say the Noke (a play on the words “no key”) is the world’s first Bluetooth padlock with capabilities of being unlocked by an app available on iPhone or Android devices. After the padlock is paired with a cellphone using Bluetooth 4.0, it can be unlocked with the press of a button or automatically when the phone is in range. The app also allows the pass code to be shared with another user and gives that person a single use or unlimited use of unlocking the padlock.
In the event that the user’s cellphone dies, the Noke can also be unlocked by clicking in a code with the handle of the lock. Gengler said the men were able to customize the lock to fit many situations a user might encounter.
“It’s one of those things where you take the time and start thinking, ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ ” Gengler said. “And Kickstarter is great for that. We’ve just had tons of questions. And the fact that we thought about it and prepared for it helps make this go a lot more smoothly.”
The Noke had a huge response after being launched on Kickstarter Monday and raised over $83,000 of its $100,000 goal within the first nine hours.
“We are off to a good start,” Gengler said. “It’s nerve-wracking every time you push the button to launch a Kickstarter campaign. It’s scary. But we have had really high expectations of it and I think even our high expectations have certainly been exceeded.”
The Noke will ship in February and will be available on the company website and Amazon. Gibbs said they are also planning to sell the product in select stores.
