Fresh Grad in SZ to Unlock Dream
SARB SINGH, 23, came to Shenzhen with one thing on his mind: making a better bike lock.
With plans to bring his innovative bike lock to the market — and a working prototype in hand — the small company he co-founded, Grasp Inc., came to Shenzhen about two months ago.
“You wrestle with a bike lock, basically,” Singh said sitting in a sunlit conference room in a Huaqiangbei office building.
Along with a few friends Singh came up with the Grasp Lock, which he describes as a “one-second lock.” The lock slides around a bike frame and bike rack in one smooth motion, before locking. It opens via fingerprint. Despite the technology involved, using the lock is straightforward.
Singh said the design is simple because of what he learned while interning as an electrical engineer for Apple in Cupertino, the United States.
“That taught me a lot about engineering design and manufacturing design,” said Singh.
Singh and the other Grasp Inc. team members are figuring out how to mass-produce the lock in China with guidance from HAX, a hardware accelerator located in Huaqiangbei.
Singh learned about HAX because three other groups from Singh’s university, the University of Waterloo, in Canada, went through the HAX program, he said.
“A lot of them came here with a very minimal product and left here with something that could be sold on the market,” he said.
Singh is one of many foreigners that come to Shenzhen with product ideas they want to make real, attracted by the city’s production capacity and engineering know-how.
“Drive an hour outside of Shenzhen and it’s factory after factory after factory,” said Singh.
Singh will be in Shenzhen before going to Silicon Valley to look for investors in November.
Singh said he could make the bike lock in his native Canada, but manufacturing more than 50,000 would be difficult. He hopes to be successful and is working on establishing a supply chain near Shenzhen.
Singh said at least one member of the Grasp Inc. will likely be in Shenzhen to manage production.
“We graduated and now we’re here,” said Singh. “You never know where life is going to go.”
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