Innovating Digital Networking & Health Safety: Interview with SOTY 2024 Nominee, Zapmii

Hey Hackers,

Zapmii has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startups of The Year awards in Sutton, England, UK.

Please vote for us here:

https://hackernoon.com/startups/europe/europe-sutton-england-uk?stup=66f31c7f6ea4677e23dbed4c

Read more about us below to understand why we deserve your vote.

Meet Zapmii

Zapmii: Innovating Digital Networking and Life-Saving Health Management.

Zapmii bridges the gap between digital networking and personal health management with two innovative platforms: Zapmii Social and Zapmii Health. Through cutting-edge NFC technology, we empower professionals to share dynamic digital profiles with ease and offer families peace of mind by ensuring their loved ones’ health information and safety needs are securely managed. Whether connecting at events or safeguarding vulnerable individuals, Zapmii is the solution that puts people and their data first.

How Zapmii achieved product-market fit

We built Zapmii Social to address a critical need: modern, secure networking in a fast-paced, tech-driven world. Professionals attending events often struggle with outdated paper business cards and lack insights into how connections can lead to real business opportunities. Zapmii Social’s NFC cards and tags solve that, providing real-time engagement analytics so users can track who interacted with their profiles and build stronger, more meaningful connections.

Zapmii Health emerged from a personal challenge experienced by one of our co-founders—having a non-verbal family member needing constant care and a way to share medical information quickly. Zapmii Health’s NFC devices allow individuals with critical health needs, such as non-verbal people, children, and the elderly, to share medical data instantly in emergencies. Additionally, caregivers are alerted if vulnerable loved ones leave a predefined safe zone, ensuring safety and peace of mind.

Both platforms have already found their footing in two distinct but rapidly growing markets—business networking and personal health management—each worth billions globally. Our early adopters have demonstrated the tangible value these solutions bring, from streamlining professional connections to saving lives in emergencies.

The evolution of Zapmii

Zapmii’s journey began with Zapmii Social, which was launched three years ago as a response to the growing need for digital-first networking solutions. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, professionals around the world were searching for a contactless, tech-savvy way to share business information. Since then, Zapmii Social has grown its user base by 30% year-over-year, with rave reviews about its ease of use, customization options, and data-driven insights.

In 2023, we recognized an even larger, underserved market, families caring for vulnerable individuals, such as those with dementia, autism, or chronic illnesses. This insight led to the development and launch of Zapmii Health. The platform quickly gained traction, with numerous stories of how it has improved care management and even saved lives by alerting caregivers when loved ones strayed from safe zones.

Milestones and achievements

Won the 2024 Netty Awards for Best Up-and-Coming Consumer Tech Company.

Lessons learned

We’ve faced several challenges along the way, especially in convincing users to trust a new technology with their sensitive health and personal data. However, we learned that transparent communication about security and offering early product trials were key to gaining user trust. We also realized that our customers value control over their data, so we built features allowing users to determine exactly what information is shared and under which circumstances.

Another lesson was that both health and professional markets require different communication strategies. Zapmii Social users are drawn to networking efficiency and personalization, whereas Zapmii Health users are concerned with data privacy and real-time alerts. Recognizing and adapting to these needs has been critical to our success.

What Startups of The Year means to us

Participating in HackerNoon’s Startups of the Year is more than just an honor for Zapmii, it’s a validation of our vision to make life both simpler and safer for millions of people around the world. This recognition will help us build credibility, especially in the competitive health-tech and networking-tech spaces, where trust is paramount.

Additionally, this award will give us the visibility needed to attract key investors and partners who believe in our mission to improve people’s professional lives and safeguard health in emergencies.

Conclusion

Zapmii is ready to change both business networking and health safety with simple, secure, and life-saving tools. We've only just started, but the impact we've already made is clear, from helping people grow their businesses to saving lives with our instant alerts. As we keep innovating, we're ready to become a leader in both areas, making sure our customers can trust us with their most important things: their connections and their health.

Vote for Zapmii today and help us keep changing and protecting lives!