In first, ‘Inc.’ nominates Israeli college start-up
03/17/2013 22:54
Alcohoot is the first Israeli company to compete for "coolest" start-up in magazine's annual contest.
ALCOHOOT COFOUNDER Ben Biron demonstrates the smartphone Breathalyzer Photo: Courtesy
One of the companies in Inc. magazine’s annual contest ranking “America’s
Coolest Start-up” is not like the others: It’s Israeli.
Alcohoot, a
start-up that aims to prevent drunk driving by selling law enforcement- grade
alcohol Breathalyzers that attach to smartphones, is the brainchild of
24-year-old Jonathan Ofir, a Los Angeles native studying business at the IDC,
and his Israel born friend Ben Biron, 23, studying at Wingate University in North
Carolina.
As one of the 12 start-ups Inc. selected for 2013, it is the
first Israeli firm to appear in the five-year history of the
contest.
“It’s a tool to help people make the responsible decision,” Ofir
said. He and Biron, friends since middle school, dreamed up the idea of an
inexpensive and easy-to-use app during their IDF service.
“We were in the
army together in the safety department and learned a lot about vehicular safety
and the effects of drunk driving,” Ofir said.
In addition to dealing with
drunk driving accidents in their work, there was a sign on the base showing the
number of soldiers killed that way, which ticked up at an uncomfortably high
rate, he said, adding: “We thought it was ridiculous. This was 100 percent
preventable.”
Because socializing in college is so often centered around
drinking, Ofir and Biron said they got the idea for the product because it was
something they would have wanted themselves.
“The only test you have is
just guessing by yourself,” Ofir said.
According to a survey done by the
Israel National Road Safety Authority, “Most drivers are not aware of the amount
of alcohol that they can drink and be safe to drive in reality.”
The
survey also found that in 2012, 33% of Israelis acknowledged driving after
drinking at least once during the year.
After raising $100,000 from a
private donor, Alcohoot partnered with one of the largest Breathalyzer
manufacturers in China to build cheaply an accurate machine that can plug into
smartphones through the audio jack. The device is expected to cost less than
$100, or just over a third of what a professional Breathalyzer would
cost.
The accompanying app, which will be compatible with iPhone and
Android, can tell users what their blood-alcohol level is and, if it’s too high
to drive, order them a cab or direct them to nearby restaurants to help sop up
some of the booze and wait out their intoxication.
The 12 start-ups
nominated for by Inc. will compete until May 1 to get the highest number of
“likes” on Facebook.
Other college start-ups in the running include
FlashFood, a network that helps restaurants donate extra food that usually gets
wasted; Flightcars, which lets the owners of vehicle parked in airports rent out
their cars to incoming travelers while they’re away; and PayTango, a
fingerprint-based payment system.
Alcohoot hopes to win the competition,
in which it is currently in fourth place, Ofir said, but just being noticed by
the magazine is a boon.
“As college students, sometimes people don’t take
us as seriously as we’d like to be taken,” he said. “Really, everyone kind of
won because the hard part was just to be nominated.”