FEBRUARY 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 25
PRESS BUSINESS
LI mom not monkeying around with kid-tracking app
By TIMOTHY BOLGER
After Kim Gavin lost track of one
of her daughters at a party, the
Manhasset mother used her fear as
inspiration to launch a new product
that helps parents avoid similar
scares.
The Monkey KID Sensor is a
disposable beacon that can be
fastened to a child’s clothing. It
pairs with a smartphone app that
alerts parents when their children
wander outside of a perimeter,
using geo-fencing technology.
It’s proven popular with parents
planning trips to Disney World.
“It’s a tool that I think a lot of
parents would benefit from and
there’s no judgement from having
something like this, it’s just a simple
extra layer of protection,” says
Gavin. “We knew…people would
appreciate this very simple, easy-touse,
wearable accessory that would
help kids from wandering.”
The device, which launched Dec.
19, is already getting attention for
its unique ability to put to rest a
parent’s worst nightmare of losing
a child at the park or mall and
the ensuing fear that they’ve been
kidnapped or worse.
She’s already in talks with ABC’s
Shark Tank, has been featured on
the Today show, had thousands of
downloads and sold hundreds of
beacons. Gavin also exhibited the
device at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas last month,
where she was one of only 50 women
founders out of 800 exhibitors.
The 44-year-old married mother
of two says she’s always been
entrepreneurial and credits
experience at her day job at Boston
Scientific, an implantable medical
device innovator, with helping her
overcome the odds as a tech startup.
The device, which is not to be
confused with The Monkey App
— a chat roulette-like app recently
launched by Australian teens —
sells for $39 each, $69 for two or
$99 for three. Each beacon lasts
about four months. Parents can
set the virtual fence up to 170
feet wide before their wandering
children will signal a cell phone
alert.
“Kids are like
monkeys,” she
says of her
inspiration
for the name.
“They’re
just hard to
catch.”
WHOLLY MOLI
The circular Monkey KID Sensor beacon snaps on to a child’s
shoe. The app can track multiple “monkeys” at once.