After decades without major innovations in the luggage industry, a start-up from New York claims to solve all the problems of modern travellers. Let’s focus on this new phenomenon: the world's first connected carry-on !
"The luggage industry hasn't brought much innovation" said Bluesmart CEO Saez Gil "The last innovation was adding wheels in the '70s." Yet, with the advent of new technologies, our way to travel has changed dramatically. Smartphones are now able to book air tickets or hotel rooms, soon it will also take care of our luggage! Why do we need such an app? Perhaps because 82.000 bags are lost each day in airports worldwide! In any case, that’s what the American start-up stated to justify the launch of their project and to get some financial support from Internet users through crowdfunding.
This campaign was a tremendous and unexpected success, to say the least. Bluesmart had requested 50.000 dollars to finance this project. They ended up receiving more than 2 million dollars!
"We thought maybe if we were successful, we'd raise $100,000" Saez Gil said. People started to share the project on Facebook saying “Oh my god, I've been waiting for this product for years” and Bluesmart reached the one million dollars threshold in a few weeks.
Going far beyond traditional expectations, BlueSmart proposed a list of features to reassure passengers and enable them to enjoy their trip: