for safety and submit the info to the app, creating a comprehensive map that notes short cuts and provides real-time alerts for lane closures, potholes, and other hazards.
Founder Lynsie Campbell says the platform currently has about 30,000 bikers that have submitted more than 55,000 pieces of safety information. “Our secret sauce isn’t an algorithm, but a passionate, engaged community,” she adds. At the moment, LaneSpotter covers 22 cities across America.
—Lumos (Hong Kong): Speaking of bikes, cyclists sometimes worry that the dinky lights mounted on their handlebars won’t be enough to alert drivers to their presence and intentions. Enter Lumos, which makes a smart bike helmet with a small bank of LED lights, displaying turn signals and brake signals. Lumos products can be found at more than 300 Apple stores around the world, the company says.
—Priva (Chicago): Short flights for regional business travel are expensive and a hassle, the company maintains. So Priva offers WiFi-enabled luxury vehicles to provide door-to-door service for small groups of business travelers. “It’s optimized for teams to collaborate and engage,” says Dagan Mishoulam, co-founder and CEO. In the future, the company will look at a “hotel on wheels” service for overnight trips, and one that travels to different destinations in the same city, he adds.
Priva is currently beta testing in Detroit and Chicago, but plans to expand to other cities soon.
—SkyHi (San Francisco): SkyHi is a subscription service for booking last-minute flights. Members pay $199 per month to access five flat-rate, one-way flights. Travelers going to a destination up to 1,000 miles away pay an additional $35 for a ticket, $75 for a flight between 1,000 and 2,000 miles away, and $120 for a flight that is 2,000 to 3,000 miles away. (For example, a New Yorker would pay $35 to fly to Chicago, $75 to fly to Denver, and $120 to fly to Los Angeles.)
—Zohr (Kansas City, MO): The process of buying and installing new tires can eat the better part of a Saturday afternoon, but Zohr believes it doesn’t have to be that way. The company sells tires online and then delivers and installs them. “It’s a tire shop that comes to you,” explains founder and CEO Komal Choong. “It’s similar to Safelite, except it’s tires. The industry is behind the times, and that’s one reason we started the company.”
Zohr’s customers can go to the company’s website, choose the tires they want according to the make and model of their vehicles, and Zohr will deliver and install them on-site at the customer’s location—usually within two hours, Choong says. Right now, the service is only available in Kansas City, but he says a Detroit expansion may be coming soon.
