Life-saving should not be a coincidence - with this goal in mind, the Freiburg-based start-up Tocsen is launching a system consisting of a helmet sensor and an app. It detects serious falls, asks the user whether everything is OK and automatically makes an emergency call if there is no response.

Every mountain biker knows the risk, but nobody likes to think about it: despite wearing a helmet and protectors, a fall can be life-threatening. If you are out alone, you can only hope to be found in time. This is what happened to a friend of the three Tocsen founders. He broke his neck in a mountain bike accident and lay unconscious in the forest.

"After that, we kept asking ourselves: what would have happened if no one had happened to pass by?" says Managing Director Alexander Schumacher. "And above all: Why is there no solution for such cases?". Together with his sports friends Andreas Botsch, 34, and Malte Buttjer, 30, the 36-year-old quickly set about finding a solution himself. The idea: a system for all cyclists that takes over the emergency call to the accident site in an emergency.

App sends emergency call with exact location of the accident

The result is Tocsen, a combined product consisting of a fall sensor and app. The small sensor can be attached to any helmet and measures the motion sequence and impact force of a fall. If the value is unusually high, the app uses a smartphone to inquire about the condition of the person who has fallen. If the person does not react, Tocsen makes an emergency call with the exact position.

Tocsen users should grow into a community

The young entrepreneurs see particular added value in a large community of users. They are linked together via an app. In an emergency, the emergency call is also sent to all cyclists in the network who are in the immediate vicinity. "The more people use Tocsen, the greater the likelihood that someone will be at the scene of the accident quickly," says Andreas Botsch.

Crowdfunding campaign

The Tocsen Community is intended to be more than just a team of potential first responders. "We want to get people involved right from the start," says app developer Malte Buttjer, "so we can find out directly what's on their minds and what we can perhaps do better."

That's why the young entrepreneurs are launching a crowdfunding campaign in November. The aim is to activate the future community and get the sensor into production. The technology has already been developed and all prototype tests have been successfully completed. The campaign can be supported from 01.11.2018 to 30.11.2018 at www.startnext.com/tocsen. There it is possible to pre-order a Tocsen fall sensor.

tocsen.com