.CO loves startups, and is actively involved in several startup events every year. One of the biggest events we love to be a part of is the Global Startup Battle. In 2014, the winner in The Innovators Track we sponsored was .CO-er, Loop Vent. One of the awesome prizes Loop won was tickets to demo at LAUNCH festival. In March, .CO was also a proud partner to the LAUNCH festival, hosted by the San Francisco LAUNCH incubator. LAUNCH’s mission revolves around supporting entrepreneurs and inspiring innovation. We recently caught up with the lucky winners to tell us more about their journey!
About Loop
What is Loop Vent?
The Loop Vent is a smart temperature comfort system that can control all the rooms in a home. It controls the temperature at the room’s source, the air vent. The Loop Vent is a combination of a thermostat replacement hub and smart replacement air vents that regulate the temperature and air flow by opening and closing the air vents automatically.
Who is the Loop Vent team?
The team behind the Loop Vent comes from Toronto, Canada. Curious and ambitious, the team is made up of folks who have diverse skill sets and love to solve people’s problems.
What inspired you to start Loop Vent?
The constant temperature difference across rooms at home that causes us to be too hot when upstairs—in turn forcing us to come back downstairs only to discover that now it’s too cold. This needed to be solved.
Tell us more about Loop Vent. What gives it the edge?
We’re getting rid of the usual central thermostat. You don’t need a thermostat. What you need is to be able to control the temperature from anywhere in your home from the comfort of your mobile device; or, you can have it done automatically for you. Having one central thermostat, like most households, does not allow you to control the temperature on a room-by-room basis. The Loop Vent does, and saves you money on your monthly energy bill.
What are some of the main things Loop Vent is doing?
We’re currently focused on creating a working prototype that allows us to measure the temperature differences across all rooms of interest in the household and balance the temperature according to the user’s preferences.
What were you looking for when you went to register your domain name?
The most import objective for us was obtaining a domain name that wasn’t already taken. The domain name we wanted was available under the .CO domain and at an affordable price too.
What made you select .CO?
The .CO TLD offered us competitive perks through their Membership Program that were difficult to let pass. So we didn’t pass on them, and we got a .CO domain.
What are some of the advantages of being on a .CO domain?
Being on a .CO domain gives us access to several perks! We were able to obtain some cool books and decent discounts. Another great perk is a free SEO consultation.
What’s next for you and Loop Vent? In the next 5, 10,+ years?
Loop Vent is just the beginning of our plan! We intend to create a series of smart connected solutions that people actually want while making your life easier and more enjoyable. Loop is about lifestyle, design and comfort.
How was your LAUNCH festival experience?
The networking experience and booth traffic at LAUNCH was overall a positive one. We met all different kinds of people. The crowd consisted largely of guests and exhibitors going around the booths offering their products and services. We also met with a few people working for VC firms that approached us to offer their help.
What were your main takeaways?
Takeaways from Launch that can help our business are to invest more resources in marketing and social media.
