A Liverpool-based technology company has developed a platform designed to eradicate unsafe gasworks from millions of UK homes. Gas Tag has been supported by Liverpool City Region’s Local Growth Hub in creating the technology, which comprises an NFC tag that is scanned to evidence that work has taken place, provides a best practice workflow and an online portal detailing all Gas Tag-verified procedures.
Information collected on each job is presented via a portal to provide councils, housing associations and letting agents with the peace of mind that their properties are compliant with industry regulations and gasworks.
“Our mission is to go further and get a Gas Tag in every property across the country and to create a nationwide database of all gas works. What’s more, the fact that Gas Tag can only be used by qualified gas engineers means that the general public are more protected from illegal gas fitters when they need vital, and potentially high-risk, work doing on gas appliances,” commented Gas Tag founder and chief executive Paul Durose.
Durose co-founded Gas Tag in early 2015 with the aim of changing an industry “that had not adapted to using technology to make homes safer”. It raised seed money from early investors and then raised private equity money in early 2018 to expand.
However, Gas Tag initially struggled to gain credibility in the market for its gasworks product.
“The challenge we had before working with the Local Growth Hub was that we didn’t have a massive network of connections with other businesses based in the city and lacked credibility as a brand new business,” added Durose.
“Having the Local Growth Hub behind us has opened a lot of doors and helped to make vital connections to the knowledge and experience that exists here in Liverpool when it comes to tech, innovation and business growth. In fact, a lot of the professionals that we are working with to this day were first brought to our attention via our involvement with the Local Growth Hub.”
Janice Mears, head of business growth at Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “Gas Tag is a real success story for the local business community and the company’s founders have first-hand experience of the challenges innovative new companies face when trying to get their ideas off the ground initially.
“By seeking the support of the Local Growth Hub, Gas Tag has been able to access a vast network of experts to set their company on the road to growth.”
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