172

News

Danish startup finding the key to success

Christian Wenande
April 26th, 2017


This article is more than 7 years old.

KeyKeeper unlocking the doors of business with its key delivery service

Thumbs up all round for KeyKeeper (photo: KeyKeeper)

We’ve all been there. Needing to give someone a key, but not being able – or inclined – to meet that individual for some reason. As small as they are, keys can be a real nuisance at times.

But hark! Now there’s a solution to all your woeful key dilemmas. Danish startup KeyKeeper will allow you to pass on keys to your nosy mother-in-law, jilted ex-boyfriend or pesky Airbnb guest – without you even having to meet them. Now that’s a result!

It all works by the customer setting up an account on the KeyKeeper website and picking a shop or cafe that they wish to drop their key off at.

Then the delayed Airbnb guest, or friend arriving from abroad while the customer is at work, can simply pick up the key at the shop. When the key has been picked up by the guest, the customer receives a notification.

All it costs is a paltry 12.5 kroner, which is paid by the customer to the shop for holding the keys (KeyKeeper doesn’t take a fee from its customers yet, but expects to adjust this after this summer).

READ MORE: Danish butler startup riding high on the coattails of Airbnb

Nordic expansion
KeyKeeper was founded in late 2015 by its CEO, Christian Dehn, who came up with the concept when he asked his local kiosk to hold a key for an incoming Airbnb tenant that he was unable to meet with.

“Fortunately, the kiosk owner was super nice and helped me and afterwards I came to think that I was not the only one facing this issue – and that turned out to be the start of this adventure,” Dehn told CPH POST.

“I got the details sorted out and started developing the site in February 2016 and launched in August that year in Copenhagen in 25 shops. Today, we have over 1,000 users and facilitate hundreds of key deliveries every month.”

Dehn went on to reveal that KeyKeeper had made its way to Aarhus and Aalborg, while Odense and the rest of the Nordic region is also on the agenda.

As of now, KeyKeeper is only in Danish, but there are plans to offer an English version as well in the near future. Currently, 90 percent of KeyKeeper’s customers are Airbnb related, and the company does provide those booking a key pickup with information in English.

Founder and CEO, Christian Dehn (photo: Jonas Pryner Andersen/KeyKeeper)


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”