Overview of Venture: PLUR Tech uses technology to connect users to each other without the use of a cell phone. Our focus is on the electronic dance music (EDM) festival market. Using (RFID) technology, users can exchange charms that attach to the bracelet of their choice that contain customizable information that connects users to a networked platform.
The Problem: EDM festivals have between 400K to 700K fans in attendance. As a result, overwhelmed cell towers face technical issues that impairs their use. Our wearable devices enable users to meet new friends and stay connected after the event in a fun and fashionable way. We offer a community building platform that connects to the bracelets; allowing users to share GPS, create a family tree of friendships, interact and make payments etc.
Festival goers are already exchanging bracelets with each other. Basic pony-bead bracelets, called “Kandi” are exchanged when a friendship is formed between festival goers. They use it as a sign of affection or acceptance. The term “PLUR” is used frequently which stands for peace, love, unity and respect.
Who Has This Problem: In the United States in 2016, 32 million people attended at least one rave. The market is also experiencing a 14% annual growth rate. EDM festivals are expanding globally, with major festival brands such as Insomniac expanding to 16 additional countries in 2019. The global growth rate of the EDM market is 32% annually, particularly in China.
The Solution: "Electric Kandi Charms" are attached to the user’s existing pony bead bracelets. These RFID-enabled charms connect to an app that tracks where the bracelet has been and creates a roadmap of user profiles, similar to an Ancestry.com profile.
“Electric Kandi Bracelets” are our high-end product that users do not trade. Users wear this bracelet to enhance their experience. It has the same feel as a smartwatch featuring a light up band.
The bracelet allows users to:
- Create special groups and share their location
- Create visual maps of the festival
- Turn on sound activated lights on band
- Send emergency alerts to groups
- Red light visual alert system
PLUR Tech’s Competitive Advantage: There are currently no other wearable technologies that function like our product. Our founders are familiar with the market and the values of users so our “PLUR Tech” brand image will resonate with many of the users. When we establish our initial user base, users will have so much invested in their own history and profile that switching to a potential competitor would take extra effort.
Milestones:
- Company Incorporation & Trademark
- Designed and 3-D Printed Prototypes
- Secured RFID chips from Zebra, Inc.
- Permission granted to integrate with iPhone IOS system
- Provisional Patent Filed
- Semi-Finalist in National Student Startup Madness (part of SXSW)
- 35,000 Website Views (www.plurtech.com)
- We have the head of innovation as a mentor from IBM
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ABOUT THE ENTRANT
- Name:Kaytlynne Deardorf
- Type of entry:individual
- Profession:
- Kaytlynne is inspired by:In the summer of 2016, I attended an electronic music festival in the state of Wisconsin. During this rave I brought with me Kandi bracelets.
Kandi bracelets are home crafted poly bead bracelet that are extensively traded within the rave community and are seen as a huge part of the rave culture. These bracelets are used as the main mode of communication at raves to establish first time connections, trading Kandi at a rave is the equivalent to trading business cards at a business exposition.
That night I gifted a Kandi bracelet to a fellow Raver who happened to have never seen Kandi bracelets before, this fellow raver was so overwhelmed with happiness over our new friendship she broke into tears but today this potential friendship is nothing more than a memory.
That night, my phone battery was dead leaving no opportunity to exchange contact information with my new Raver friend and unlike business cards Kandi’s do not come equipped with contact information. This experience led me to devote my life to ending lost connections.
Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them.
PLUR Tech believes life is a gift, a chance to give back to the world through peace, love, unity and respect. A chance to give back to the world by becoming more. Our startup team has a clear vision of what the future of communication and live event experiences. We have a diverse team of engineers, with different passions and skill sets on our team which allows to easily be able to expand our product line in the future. - Patent status:patented