Smart Industry 1/2018

Smart Business SMART Companies
Berlin: KIWI
Opening doors for IoT
The story starts in 2007 when Claudia
Nagel, a doctor in industrial engineering,
was standing outside the door to
her apartment building in pouring
rain. Her baby was screaming. She
was carrying heavy shopping bags in
one hand and with the other she was
frantically searching in her pockets
and handbag for her keys.
A few weeks later, she told the story
to her friend Christian Bogatu, an
engineer with a background in hardware
startups and IT security who she
knew from her time with the consultancy
firm McKinsey. Together, they
dreamt up KIWI – a way of retrofitting
doors to buildings for IoT by putting
RFID sensors in buzzer systems to
unlock doors.
Their system has two components:
the “Ki,” a key fob users carry around
to pick up the signal locally from a
transponder in the door; and the “Wi”
(wireless) smartphone app to enable
users to release the lock remotely.
The two young entrepreneurs want to
open doors all across Europe, no less.
Based in Berlin, the tiny company that
aims at replacing our keyrings with
nifty wireless technology has already
garnered funding and partnerships –
and customers, too.
In order to make sure no one is left
standing in the rain, so to speak, KIWI
is focusing primarily on the home
market by forging relationships with
service companies. At last count, the
KIWI technology had been installed
in 1,500 buildings, which amounts
to about 15,000 apartments.
Conrad Electronics, the biggest mailorder
seller of electronic consumer
goods in Germany, is one of KIWI's
prime partners. Another is Deutsche
Post, which is interested in providing
its postal workers with easy access
to apartment blocks. Today, mail
carriers often tote massive bunches
of keys, one for every building.
“You have service providers like the
post and the trash removal people,
gardeners, and cleaning personnel,”
says Bogatu. “All of these need to
open doors to do their job. All of this
is a big efficiency and management
problem, not to mention security.”
KIWI also works with local emergency
services, like fire departments and
ambulance operators. “Once KIWI
is installed, the firemen or medical
team can get inside fast,” says Bogatu.
This means the technology provided
by KIWI could potentially save lives
one day.
Claudia Nagel
Domestic trauma
unlocked a business
opportunity
Christian Bogatu
We're now in a good
position to get our
foot in the door
What would happen if a user lost
their electronic key fob or had their
smartphone stolen? For these eventualities
KIWI provides an app and a
website where users can log in and
cancel their Ki code immediately.
The company claims the KIWI system
is secure and hack-proof, so nobody
– neither hackers nor, for that matter,
nosy landlords – can track or record
information about who might walk
through the door.
Bogatu and his development team are
looking at other technologies that
could be integrated into the keyless
systems. Bluetooth would obviously
be an attractive option but limited
battery lifetimes have proven an
obstacle until now – although some
competitors, like UniKey in the United
States, claim to have overcome
these problems and Bluetooth Low
Energy may one day prove to be an
alternative solution.
For now, KIWI's focus is on conquering
additional European markets, and
Bogatu has secured more than €4m
in funding for this purpose.
“We're now in a very good position
to get our foot in the door,” Bogatu
says confidently.
kiwi.ki
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