Raj is my colleague and buddy for more than 14 years now, since the beginning of independent testing phenomenon, with AppLabs and then we continued the journey with Cigniti. However, the Nirbhaya incident in December 2012, which shook billions around the world, compelled Raj to leave Cigniti, and venture into building something to improve women’s safety in India (or may be around the world too).

After 9 months of planning to visit Hug Innovations office, I met Raj and his awesome team at his office in Hyderabad, around lunch hour yesterday.  Raj spent more than an hour unveiling his journey for last 2 years, and walked me and Nag, through the evolution of India’s first smart watch.  It is no brainer to say, it was an awe inspiring story.  Hug Watch is more than a typical smart watch out there. It has gestures for VR, acts a game controller, and connects to plethora of devices out there via Bluetooth.

Most importantly and uniquely, The Hug watch comes with a built-in alert panic button, which sends an SOS trigger to the pre-configured user’s friends and family, in addition to alerting other users in the vicinity, by sending an abstract identity of the user along with the precise location of the incident.  Raj said, app is also customized to show the nearest coordinates of a hospital or law enforcing authorities, along with the phone numbers and other details.

I would document more detailed write-up on my experience, during the weekend. I thought I will share my experience today, given the importance of Raksha Bandhan event.  I would say, this is the best gift to give your loved ones, when they visit you for tying the Rakhi on the eve of Raksha Bandhan 🙂

Big HUG and CHEERS to Raj and his team at Hug Innovations