#5: Eccobell
replacing the need for physical keys.
🎉 Theme of the Week
In the past issues, we’ve mainly highlighted products made for the African ecosystem. So, we’re switching things up this week. This week, we’ll showcase products built by Africans in the diaspora. Diasporan Africans are doing amazing things outside the continent, and it’s important we celebrate them.
Our first product feature of the week is solving an interesting problem for folks everywhere. When I moved into my apartment last year, I was always unsure that I had locked my doors. I remember leaving my building and returning countless times because I wasn’t sure I had locked my doors.
I wondered if there was some smart lock I could use to help me manage my constant doubt. I looked into smart locks but wasn’t satisfied with what I saw. So, I accepted my fate. To this day, I still double-check my doors four million times a day to ensure they’re locked.
Security aside, everyone has either lost or forgotten their keys at some point. Most people have had to keep a friend waiting because they got to our apartment before us or travel far distances to give our friends our keys to take care of our pets [or plants] while we’re away or had to come back home early because of a house-related emergency.
Some of us just hate having to lug our many keys, fobs and access cards around. If you fall into any of these categories, I think you might be interested in our product of the day. Let’s get to it.
Product Profile
Name: Eccobell
Website: https://www.eccobell.com/
Countries Served: Worldwide
Product Area: IoT [Contactless as a Service]
Pricing: £299 [hardware], £49/year [software]
Founders: Daniel Ojeme [CEO], Ben Metson
Company Funding Stage: Pre-Seed
Year Founded: 2019
Open Roles: Graphic Design Intern, Senior Product Designer and Technical Administration Intern.
In their own words:
We're on a mission to build an ecosystem of on-demand applications using contactless technology to innovate how people access, communicate and interact with each other, unrestricted by device.
We envision a world where we benefit from using powerful, contactless and secure technology for everyday tasks. Virtual doorbells are just the start of our technology's capability.
We’re enabling anyone, anywhere, to communicate and grant access to guests at just a tap.
Eccobell in the News:
Bowing out:
For the “Doubting Thomas” like me, who is always wondering if she forgot to lock her doors and hates carrying keys around, I believe Eccobell is a fantastic solution to my problems.
What sells it to me is that I can use my phone to do the things I need to do. Our phones are unlocking opportunities for comfort and ease, and I’m glad Eccobell is hopping on that wave. I don’t need to carry my wallet, thanks to Apple Wallet. And soon, I won’t need to lug my keys around [thanks to hopefully Eccobell].
I am genuinely excited about this product and the problem they’re solving. I can’t wait to see where they go with this product!
If you like what you’ve seen so far, you can check Eccobell out for yourself here.
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That’s it for this issue! I hope you found it enlightening.
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See you in the next issue.
Yours in Product Discovery,
Dumss