Cardiff-based online booking and reservation software provider BookingLive has triumphed amongst 15,000 competitors from 98 countries in a Global Hackathon to provide solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BookingLive won the Empowerment, Solidarity in Action category for their Coordinate-19 solution, and was the only British team in the Top10 solutions globally. The company is now in discussions on using Coordinate-19 with the EU Commission and governments in France, Estonia, Malta, and Greece, along with many other international organisations.
The BookingLive solution provides centralised resource, staff and volunteer management and deployment in the face of the coronavirus pandemic – getting the right resources to the right people at the right time. It is a customisable system that automates common logistical functions in resource management and booking, and applies them to multiple crisis resource settings, so you can consolidate inventories of facilities, people and goods; triage/prioritise their distribution; and provide an adaptable booking interface that allows the resources available to reach the people who need them with the least friction possible.
BookingLive’s Welsh Founder and CEO Vinnie Morgan said: “The Global Hack is an online hackathon designed to share and rapidly develop ideas for urgently needed solutions in the face of the current crisis, as well as to build resilience post-pandemic. This is a great win for BookingLive and for the Welsh tech scene generally, and as a result we’re now being celebrated globally and in demand across the world for our solution to getting the right resources to the right people at the right time.”
BookingLive recently made its free call and email deflector tool available to local governments across the UK to signpost users faster and more efficiently to the pages and information they most need during the COVID-19 crisis.
The Software-as-a-Service company, recently launched its new HQ in Cardiff’s dynamic tech hub after securing £1.31m in new investment from Blackfinch Ventures and the Development Bank of Wales to fund future expansion.
The Development Bank of Wales was set up by the Welsh Government to support the economy of Wales by making it easier for businesses to get the finance needed to start up, strengthen and grow.
The Development Bank of Wales announced an investment of £500,000 in BookingLive in January 2020.
Alexander Leigh, Investment Executive with the Development Bank of Wales, said: “What a great achievement on the part of Vinnie and the team at BookingLive. As equity funders, we’re really proud of the work that the team are doing to help fight Covid-19 by developing urgently needed solutions to help with the current crisis, as well as to build resilience post-pandemic.”
BookingLive already works with hospitals, health bodies, local governments, private companies and voluntary organisations, which means they are ready to immediately deploy Coordinate-19 at any scale necessary, from single, smaller organisations such as a care home, to a nationwide and even international roll-out. The solution was inspired by awareness that health systems, care systems and local governments were struggling to process their own particular resource issues, such as a vast influx of volunteers, recruit for staff shortages, access to goods, and the need for information.
