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Bangl is a trading style of www .com Ltd. We are an internet focused company. A software company at heart. We began back in 1993 and incorporated in 1996, so we have been around a while and have seen the birth of most of the technologies that underpin the modern connected world. We have been connecting web pages to databases since the mid-nineties and built the first websites for some well-known brands such as B Sky B, News International, ITV, British Airways and the Financial Times.
A good question and Bangl is actually two things. As a name, Bangl was conceived in 2014 and represented a bracelet. The technology we had written that made the bracelet possible began back in 2009 and was marketed under the name maxxpal. Then, come 2021, following a bounce back from Covid all our technology was regrouped and rebranded as Bangl and the maxxpal name slowly retired. The bracelet got a refresh but became just one element of the new Bangl suite of contactless solutions.
A standard QR code typically contains a link to a single resource with no tracking, analysis, or updateability and certainly no two-way features. Once printed, that is it. Bangl QR codes are remotely updateable and can be two way and interactive. Content can change over time and respond to user input. Interactions can be tracked and usage can be password protected. Bangl QR codes can be used to check an operative into or out of a location as easily as they can be used to ask questions pertaining to a KPI. Bangl QR codes are infinitely customisable and we have versions with embedded AI including AI Vision and language features.
In the summer of 2014 my grandfather, who lived with us in North Weald and was suffering from Alzheimer’s, went missing. We called the police and it felt like the whole of the Essex constabulary turned out for the search. Even Oscar 99 hovered above. He was eventually found miles away, confused and sunburnt, attempting to cross the Crooked Billet roundabout in Walthamstow, East London, a place he had spent much of his adult life. The question was how he got there without money or a bus pass. The only explanation is that kind bus drivers helped him along the way. At least three buses, maybe four, to get from CM16 to E17. Each driver probably did their best, unknowingly taking him further from where he should have been. How could they have known? That led to the idea. What if he had something on him that a first responder could read. Not loads of personal data, just enough to help. No rummaging through pockets or wallets. Something simple, like a bracelet, with contactless tech inside. Scan it and reveal a name and a phone number. Since 2009 we had already been delivering information contactless-ly using QR codes and NFC. So rather than a sticker in a cleaners cupboard it would be a durable bracelet on a wrist. Bangl was designed in Essex and manufactured in China. A durable silicone bracelet requiring no battery, completely waterproof, resistant to wear and tear, and remotely updateable. At that time Bangl was a spin off product completely separate from the main business of maxxpal.
2025 has been about getting our AI solutions out there. We launched a couple of AI Bangls. One can recognise any industrial product and recommend suitable handling and PPE in the language of the operative making the enquiry. The other can on the fly translate Health & Safety documentation to a reader’s language. We launched our business AI consultancy arm. We go into a firm, look at their processes and determine how AI might be useful to them. We can stop there, delivering just a report or we can go on to implement software that takes legacy internal software and re energises it with AI tools. We are currently working with the country’s leading flooring company, based in Essex, customising Bangl AI to provide contract analysis and verbal assistance relevant to the user. We also launched Snappies (https://snappi.es), a spin off product built entirely on the Bangl platform. Essentially Snappies is a digital alternative to disposable table cameras one might see at a wedding. Instead of the camera an elegant table card with a QR code enables guests to scan and upload pictures and videos directly from their own phones.
2026 is going to be wild. AI is exploding. We watched the birth of e commerce, social media, and video calling. AI is bigger than all of those combined. We expect to go deeper into AI driven features, expand advisory work around AI adoption inside existing businesses, and grow Snappies beyond weddings into other types of events.
Yes. We love being based in Essex and are proud to be a business here. I actually prefer it to London. I think it is more innovative and more adventurous. Both my wife and I were born and raised in London and worked in the city for over fifteen years. We met there. We moved to Essex when we got married and made it our home. It is a great place to raise a family and run a business.
Our challenge is the same now as it has always been, marketing. As a software development company we have deep technical expertise but very little marketing know-how. Now we see the need to figure out how we can get our message out about our AI expertise. Maybe we do workshops, maybe we advertise. We don’t really know to be honest.
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