Background

Bipper’s mobile safety products start with a mother who has a big heart for the most important things in life. Founder and Norway native Silje (pron Sil-ye) Vallestad, 33, started her career in international peace work, but ended up becoming a leader in personal safety. Today, her free apps are available globally (smartphone penetration at 40% in many key markets, such as the U.S. and Western Europe, rising rapidly*).

In 2008, as a mother of three pre-teens who were each clamoring for sophisticated mobile devices, Vallestad realized that the same level of protection was needed for phones as for their home computer. Her mission and vision became clear: to make mobile devices safer for children and ultimately, to transform them into personal safety tools for everyone.

She assembled a team of engineers and formed Bipper later that year, becoming the world’s first “Tech Mom.” Bipper’s flagship product gave parents a way to use their PCs to monitor control their kids’ smartphone use. Crucially, Bipper also gave children a technologically advanced but easy-to-use safety alarm with GPS tracking. The award-winning, internationally recognized safety solution has recently been enhanced as an app and re-named BipperKids. It is now preparing for its imminent global product launch.

Vallestad’s newest offering, the free bSafe app, launches globally in 2011 and is available on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices. Providing the ultimate SOS, Vallestad launched bSafe for “everyone to have with the hope they never have to use.” Users simply select contacts to serve as Guardians, and when the SOS feature is initiated, Guardians will be notified immediately with an alarm and the exact location of the person in danger.

Silje was named Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Norway early in 2011, and used her cash prize toward the development of bSafe. Within a few weeks of launch (late 2011), bSafe became the most downloaded app in Norway as stories of its usefulness mount daily among media, bloggers and social network users.

Bipper is privately held, headquartered in Norway and maintains an office in New York.

* Cite source.