Inventor opening door to US

Nick Willis hopes his keyless entries will eventually be available in shops. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

A New Zealand inventor who has the backing of business gurus Stephen Tindall and Sam Morgan says he is close to signing a million-dollar-plus US investment deal that would help springboard his company into the world's biggest economy.

EC Key chief executive Nick Willis came up with the technology to allow bluetooth cellphones and other devices to be used to unlock doors and gates without the use of a key in 2005. It involves attaching a small black box, smaller than the size of a cellphone, to the inside of a door or gate and then programming the phone to match with the box.

When the phone comes within a set distance, the door will open without any buttons being pressed.

Since then Willis, who has a PhD in physics from Cambridge University, has attracted a number of investors including Tindall and Morgan as well as start-up investment group Sparkbox and the Government's New Zealand Venture Investment Fund. Last year he signed a deal with the Masterlocksmiths Association of Australasia to market the product through security firms and now he is hoping to crack the US market.

"We are focused on the North American market primarily because the large security companies are based in North America."

So far the company has only sold a couple of hundred units in total. But recently EC Key won the US-based Security Industry Association's Access Control Award and Willis says that has created a lot of new interest in the technology.

He says it has taken a long time for the concept to become a success but he feels he is now on track.

Auckland-based Willis said he expected EC Key would eventually be available in stores.