Innovate Utah: NEW IDEAS, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FROM UTAH COMPANIES

Washie, a Salt Lake City-based startup, has introduced the Washie Toilet Seat, an innovative smart toilet seat that dispenses an alcohol-based cleaning solution to wipe the seat down before and after use.

The company sees it as an automated modern replacement to old, ineffective paper toilet seat covers. Washie research found that paper toilet seat covers are ineffective and that 76 percent of users are dissatisfied with paper covers.

The product is the brainchild of Rob Poleki, a New Zealandnative who grew up inHawaiiand played football atIdaho State University. He got the idea for it after not being able to find a clean restroom for his young son in an airport. He developed a prototype and got his first patent in 2018. After presenting his idea on “Shark Tank” but not receiving funding, Poleki partnered with football teammate Dane Simmons Jr. and founded Washie.

The seat is designed for high-traffic restrooms such as airports, stadiums and hospitals. The seat connects to a convenient app which notifies maintenance when a battery or cartridge is low.

“I invented this toilet seat while I was taking my 4-year-old son to an airport restroom. I was shocked at how unsanitary the toilet seat was and proceeded to clean it with soap and toilet paper so my son could sit comfortably,” said Poleki. “With our product, no one will ever need to use the ineffective paper seat cover, or scramble to clean their seat with soap from the sink.”

Orem-based Avetta, a developer of supply chain risk management software, has expanded its Avetta One Platform with a sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk mitigation solution that allows companies to reach sustainability and ESG goals. The solution provides a holistic view of ESG status across the entire supply chain. “To become more accountable and responsible, companies are setting aggressive sustainability and ESG goals,” said Arshad Matin, president and CEO of Avetta. “Now comes the hard part — delivering on these promises. With this solution, boards and executives now have a unified view across their companies and suppliers to manage risk and improve compliance.” Avetta is the only supply chain company to provide an ESG scoring system that considers individual company goals and global standards in 20 trades.

England Logistics, a Salt Lake City-based freight brokerage company, has introduced its new Atlas Now platform, a technology-based tool for carriers and drivers to instantly book freight loads. Powered by Trucker Tools, Atlas Now provides any company with the ability for carriers to view, negotiate and contract for loads conveniently. Truckers can post truck capacities along with load preferences and opt in to receive notices of loads that match their preferences. Atlas Now also provides carriers with options to locate discounted fuel, find maintenance and repair options, view and request quotes on tire purchases and pursue factoring services. The app is available free of charge to all trucking companies for either desktop or mobile device use and new features will be added regularly, England Logistics said.

FileShadow users can now manage files from their Android devices through FileShadow’s new app. The Provo company previously released the app for Apple iPhones and iPads, macOS desktops, Windows desktops and popular browsers. With FileShadow, users can collect, organize and share files through any Android device, desktop or cloud services. The service provides file management from a phone or tablet and is available on Google Play. “Terabytes of your files can now be immediately accessible from your Android tablet or phone,” said Tyrone Pike, president and CEO of FileShadow. “Through the new app, users can manage all their files — photos, videos, email and documents — as if they were stored on their devices, but they don’t have to download the files to search, categorize, update or manage them.”

Filevine has released an enhanced version of its Vinesign e-signature solution. The publicly available verification service, accomplished through the use of blockchain technology, allows anyone to confirm key details about a Vinesigned document and its signatures in order to uphold its authenticity. The use of blockchain technology enables robust document and signature verification results. Documents submitted for verification by law firms, legal service providers and professionals are checked against a record of all Vinesign e-signature activity recorded on a private blockchain. This approach enables verification that the document was signed on Vinesign, that it is unaltered and that it is the most recent version to have been signed. “Vinesign blockchain verification provides proof that your document is authentic and unaltered,” said Eric Coffman, director of engineering at Filevine.

Lehi-based crypto platform AltaFin has announced that it has publicly launched its Earn DeFi lending protocol on the Ethereum and Polygon networks, with more chains launching soon. “We are extremely excited to launch our native Earn lending protocol to allow DeFi investors access to a stable long-term yield generated from real-world assets,” said Jeremy Crane, CEO and founder of AltaFin. “This protocol will be the backbone for increasing the treasury of AltaFin and sending profits to AltaHelix.”  The company said that Earn makes it easy to have exposure to real-world asset revenue streams. Earn runs natively on Ethereum and Polygon and is powered by the ERC-20 infrastructure. All Earn contracts are opened with AltaFin’s native AFN token, which can be acquired inside MetaMask, Coinbase or the Web3 wallet.

Qualtrics, the Provo-based experience management company, has introduced XM Discover, a new set of products that help companies tune into conversations that are already happening to build a richer understanding of what customers and employees want and expect. With this addition, organizations can use Qualtrics to gather experience data from any structured and unstructured source, analyze it with sophisticated AI and machine learning and take action to deliver better customer, employee, brand and product experiences. “Listening, understanding, and taking action is the foundation of meaningful relationships,” said Fabrice Martin, chief product officer for Qualtrics Discover. “With Discover, Qualtrics is defining the next generation of experience management, where organizations can empathize more deeply with their customers and employees to design incredible products, services and even new ways of working.”

North Salt Lake-based Gadget Guard has partnered with iQmetrix to introduce GuardPlusISM, a point-of-sale integration that allows wireless retailers to sell a variety of screen protection insurance coverage levels from one single SKU. GuardPlusISM was designed to integrate, simplify and maximize Gadget Guard screen protection sales, improve inventory levels, reduce carrying costs and increase profit potential for retailers. The GuardPlusISM integration is an extension of Gadget Guard’s insurance offerings. “GuardPlusISM simplifies a retailer’s product inventory while maximizing their ability to sell our unique screen protector insurance coverage,” said Brandon Bowen, sales manager at Gadget Guard. “The integration will offer incremental sales opportunities and access to exclusive products. We are excited to offer it to retailers, so they can better serve their customers and maximize their revenue and profit.”