Omer Kiyani has firsthand experience with the dangers of gun ownership. He was accidentally shot in the mouth as a child because a firearm had been left unsecured and in the open.
That experience is the primary inspiration for his
TechTown-based startup,
Sentinl. The 1-year-old firm, formerly Logiksync, is developing gun-safety technology that secures a loaded weapon while making is accessible for quick use.
"I got tired of reading in the news about how another child died from a gunshot," Kiyani says.
Kiyani, a gun owner, has served as a safety engineer for Bosch for nearly a decade. The finger-print technology allows the gun's owner to unlock the loaded weapon when he or she needs it. Kiyani envisions the Sentinl gunlock as a solution that walks the fine line between advocates of gun ownership and gun control.
"Even if you don't have a gun, your neighbor probably does," Kiyani says. "While his kids might be trained on how to act around guns, you might not."
Sentinl has developed an alpha prototype of its gunlock and is aiming to launch the product next summer. The startup made the semifinals of the
Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition where it worked to raise seed capital for product development. Kiyani hopes to raise $500,000 in seed capital in the next few months.
Source: Omer Kiyani, founder & CEO of Sentinl
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.