No matter how much our world is marching towards a more civilized environment, some social issues always pull us back. It is a matter of fact that crimes related to assaults are increasing day by day. For example, India is well-known for its rich IT sector skills and at the same time accused of brutal assaults. And, these harassments mostly take place in case of women.
Not only in India, but in the entire world women are not safe. If a few try to ensure their safety, a thousand does it otherwise. In this scenario, we need to step up instead of sloganeering and protesting. Jacqueline Ros, an entrepreneur came up with a product called Revolar to ensure personal safety, especially for women.
She founded this Denver-based start-up in 2013 and served as the CEO of the company. This personal safety device gained a lot of popularity. An idea turned into a big project only because she had the passion to bring a change.
About the Founder
Jacqueline went to the University of Florida to acquire her bachelor’s degree in International Studies & Spanish. She graduated in the year 2012 and the next moment she is the founder of a successful start-up.
While pursuing her degree she worked as an intern (Trained Legal Representative) at Guardian Ad Litem. In 2014, she was a part of the Candidate Support Team of Leadership for Educational Equity. She was also a Content & Transformative Series Facilitator at Teach for America and Board Treasurer at AXL Academy.
She performed her role as the CEO of Revolar until May 2018. After that, she became the Regional Director (America) of Techstars.
Why Revolar
The safety of women is a very crucial factor for the social upbringing of any nation. Jacqueline promised herself to create something for the safety of women when her sister was attacked twice. Jacqueline said that while her sister was only seventeen she became the victim of two assaults. And, she decided to develop a safety device which will be easy to carry and affordable as well.
The Beginning
Jacqueline just graduated from college when she thought of creating Revolar. She is a graduate student who is not from a very influential family background. So, she tried her best to pitch about her product and participated in start-up programs. She participated in a Kickstarter campaign, two start-up accelerators, and also a university pitch contest.
The idea of Revolar was very assuring and seemed like a need of the hour. So, she received a funding of $156,000 from the state of Colorado and a huge amount of $3 million from one of the start-up accelerators. The funding was led by a Denver Venture Capitalist firm.
Advantages of Revolar
In the initial days, Revolar helped to send location information to once contacts in case of emergency. Once the device is connected with the Revolar app it would immediately send location details to every contact saved in the app. So, just with the click of a button the safety level upgrades.
The device was very simple and minimalistic as Jacqueline wanted something that any woman can handle. Because it is the right of every woman to live freely without having the fear of such dreadful assaults.
Currently, the company is trying to introduce new features cost-effectively. Every step is taken to make the Revolar part of sustainable business and to make the world a better place.
Bad Days
In late 2017, Revolar all of a sudden went out of business for a month. This was caused due to the ineffective supply chain and production unit. The company didn’t have any other option so they filed bankruptcy saying the company is unable to repay its debt.
But, luckily this wasn’t the end. Two investors, namely, Empowerment Capital and Volante Capital Advisors were impressed by the aim of Revolar. They didn’t want a project with such a good cause to shut down and hence decided to fund them. All this happened within one month and Revolar was again back in business.
The New Business
Once Revolar was back in business it also decided to launch new products with some added features. First of all, the price of the product was cut by $40 and the launch of a new device took place. Apart from showing the location, the contact would receive a message about the person reaching the destination safely or not. Another feature added in the app is step counting.
She received a funding of $2 million for her new product. But, currently, she is not playing her role in Revolar anymore. Brian Thomas has taken her position and after he joined the company the reported revenue of Revolar is around $2 billion.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more