Rackspace announces Ollo Mobile as winner of Small Teams Big Impact Down Under competition
Ollo Mobile has been named the winner of the inaugural Rackspace Australia Small Teams Big Impact Down Under competition which launched in July.
The startup has developed a 3G cloudphone, which aims to reinvent the monitored telehealth industry and improve the safety and communication of families worldwide. It is a specialised cellular phone, seamlessly integrated with a cloud based service platform, which helps notify families when seniors fall or need assistance.
Ollo Mobile:
• Replaces the call centre with smart software, lowering the cost of monitored telehealth services by 80%
• Is a matchbox sized phone, waterproof, and wearable on a pendant or keyring
• Has a variable volume speakerphone, voice control, long battery life (10 days+), automatic fall detection, and indoor geolocation
• Charges on a dock, and has no cables or plugs
• Has a SIM card, and can be called like a regular phone
Rackspace launched the competition to find the best small team making a big impact, judged on the scope of innovation, the highest disruptive potential, and the greatest potential impact to the largest number of people or businesses.
Says Hugh Geiger, co-founder, Ollo Mobile: “We applied to the Rackspace Small Teams Big Impact competition because we know we are tackling a huge problem, and we just needed to get some global attention to help make it a reality.
“We’ve been trying to get Robert Scoble’s ear for a while, so when it came about that he was going to come to Australia, we were really excited about entering the competition.
“We’re thrilled to be chosen as the winner from this star-studded panel. Ollo Mobile is tackling a global problem, and we truly believe our idea can save lives.
“The Ollo Mobile cloudphone technology will reinvent monitored telehealth services for seniors and those with chronic health conditions. We lower the cost of service delivery by 80% and make the service socially engaging and desirable, without compromising safety.
“We think this award can serve as a great launchpad to help get our startup in front of a very broad audience.”
The Rackspace Small Teams Big Impact Tour culminated in a final event on Tuesday evening at the Fishburners co-working space in Sydney. The ten startup finalists were:
• OpenLearning
• Food Orbit
• Clipp
• Projectia
• DigitalSorbet
• Annexium
• AuthoPay
• Revolutionise
• Geepers
• Ollo Mobile
They pitched to a star-studded guest panel of judges, including:
• Robert Scoble, Startup Liaison Officer, Rackspace; blogger, technical evangelist, and author
• Mick Liubinskas, Co‐Founder, Pollenizer
• Kim Heras, Founder PushStart
• Ruslan Kogan, Founder Kogan
• Chris Ridd, Country Manager, Xero
Says Robert Scoble, startup liaison officer, Rackspace: “It was great to see some budding Australian entrepreneurs tonight, and there were three real potential billion dollar ideas in the contest. Ollo Mobile caught our eye because it could potentially save our parents’ lives.
“The startups overall in Australia were of a very high quality, and could definitely compete on the world stage. I can’t wait to come back to Australia.”
1 Comment
Great one