Female-founded mesh technology platform Where You At has raised £2.5 million in Pre-Seed funding round to help make events safer
Where You At (WYA) is a female-founded mesh technology platform designed to help make congested events safer.
It uses indoor mapping and mesh hardware to help users stay connected during busy events, enabling people to communicate even when there is no phone signal.
WYA addresses a crucial problem: the challenge of losing contact with friends in busy spaces where poor signal often compromises safety and communication.
Using a patented mesh system, the app offers real-time location sharing and communication, while event organisers can use it to optimise their space and anonymised footfall analytics. Users enjoy real-time location sharing, offline connectivity, safety alerts, and event-specific features. Event operators benefit from tools for crowd management, emergency communications, and targeted messaging.
The company was founded by Tamzin Lent, who was motivated by a personal experience of assault after losing friends at a nightclub.
WYA has already been downloaded more than 50,000 times and has become a top-ten app in Apple's navigation category.
The app has now established vital partnerships with influential venues, including Drumsheds, Night Tales, Cardiff's Y Plas, Rock City, XOYO, and E1. With venues in Sheffield, Essex, London, Cardiff, and Nottingham, it also supports festivals and large-scale spaces.
This progress follows the raising of £2.5 million in pre-seed funding earlier this year, which has been used to further develop the platform, which aims to become "Google Maps for indoor spaces."
In the last three months, WYA has successfully developed a low-cost, scalable mesh network for connectivity and crowd data monitoring, which results in a better value proposition for crowd management.
They have also launched a replayable video heatmap feature for operators and added a Meeting Points feature enabling people to set meeting points inside venues and share them with their friends. Operators can have more flexible layout options and improved app functionality.
WYA has also partnered with the Night Time Industry Association and their efforts have been recognised with a patent for their offline connectivity system, an Ordnance Survey's Innovation Award, the Downing College's Prize and more at the EASI awards and highlighted in Forbes Under 30 for Social Impact.
Now, the team is focussing on how their crowd management tool and communications capabilities could benefit venues in navigating Martyn's Law, proposed UK legislation to improve security at public venues and events and protect the public from terrorist attacks following the 2017 Manchester terrorist attack.
After a successful summer pilot, the app is also looking to partner with more festivals and cement further strategic partnerships.
Lead image: Tamzin Lent, founder of WYA, and Phil Smith, CTO of WYA.
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