Busby was developed in Liverpool in 2019 by James Duffy, Kirk Ryan and Barry Green to offer protection for cyclists and is now rebranding following expansion and a significant new investment. Tony McDonough reports

Personal safety app business Busby is rebranding to Flare just months after securing a seven-figure investment.

Busby, and its sister technology RoadRadar, was developed in Liverpool in 2019 by James Duffy, Kirk Ryan and Barry Green. The app’s incident algorithm uses the sensors on your mobile phone to detect whether you have been involved in a crash or a fall.

It was launched to offer protection for cyclists but can also be used by people on motorcycles, e-scooters or by horse riders.

Once it detects you may have come to harm it automatically asks the user to confirm they are safe. It also alerts selected emergency contacts to their precise location using emergency services approved what3words, in the event they are unresponsive. 

In September 2021, the LCR Angel Network offered a seven-figure funding package that will allow Flare to further develop the services and features it offers whilst also bolstering its team.

Flare is a well-known distress signal and the founders of the company believe the change in name of the app is better reflective of what it offers. It is aiming to expand the reach to users across the world.

Co-founder and chief operations officer, James Duffy, said: “We want to make Flare as widely used as possible by integrating it into partner apps across the world. We want people to think or know of Flare as ‘the technology for protection.”

With users in more than 129 countries, the goal is to increase the user-based, continuing the rapid growth since the launch in 2019. Re-branding to Flare provides the ability to reach a larger audience