Founded in 2013 by Hadleigh Ford, SwipedOn has seen substantial growth in its seven years; from a side project while Hadleigh worked in the marine industry, to being acquired by a listed company, now with 40 employees located globally.

While working on superyachts, Hadleigh realised the need for a simple sign-in/out app that could be hosted on an iPad, rather than a scruffy paper visitor book which didn’t quite fit the high-end setting aboard multi-million-dollar superyachts. 

One year on, in 2016, the Software as a Service business had four employees and rented desks in coworking space Basestation in the Tauranga CBD, while simultaneously establishing bases in Europe and the United States of America, to service the growing global customer base. 

In 2018 SwipedOn was acquired by UK listed company SmartSpace. Soon after, the thriving business outgrew its co-working space and moved operations to the waterfront office on The Strand, known today as SwipedOn HQ.

The significant growth and scaling were inevitably driven by the strong growth journey of the product and increased demand for the service which the software offers. Features include the ability to manage evacuations, employee sign-in/out, custom digital agreements, take visitor photos, print visitor ID badges, and manage deliveries.

A disruptive 2020 saw SwipedOn react quickly to release new features such as visitor and employee screening. This allows businesses to ask set questions to each person entering the vicinity, including ones that are pandemic-related. Questions such as “have you travelled overseas in the past 14 days” helps to mitigate potential health risks of the business’ staff and visitors.

The SwipedOn systems have supported businesses during 2020, helping then manage challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other proactive offerings include contactless visitor sign in and a dedicated smartphone app for employees to sign in and screen. This has proved successful for new and existing customers, as the additional features collect timestamps which support government recommendations of contact tracing. These features have helped thousands of businesses to remain open or reopen during this unsettled economic year. 

With plans of expansion, SwipedOn focuses on its next feature SwipedOn Pocket; a dedicated employee app which enables contactless sign-in and screening using a personal smartphone, preventing employees from touching a communal device.

The Tauranga based organisation is now being used in more than 6500 locations in over 70 countries globally. The business continues to be R&D centric with special focus on product expansion which ultimately adds value to its customers.