Eugene Tonev, Alexander Sivura and Yuri Dymov — currently at health startup HealthTap — put together a model of the kinds of bike racks you might see on the streets of Palo Alto. But this rack has a connected lock on it, paired with a social network, that can activate on demand. It’s part of an app called BikeParking.Club, which is a network for bikers that might install structures and locks like this to make sure they always have a spot somewhere nearby for their bikes. All this was thrown together and actually worked onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt New York’s hackathon this year.
“You always need to carry all these chains, or buy two chains and leave one in office or one in home,” Tonev says. “You always have a lock around your places. So, if you have chains everywhere, why share them [to make sure you always have a spot…