Startup story: Yours Global X Tehnopol Startup Accelerator

Each year, dozens of high-potential startups develop their products and services in Tehnopol Startup Accelerator and its special accelerator programmes. One of the teams currently participating in the Tehnopol Startup Accelerator is Yours Global.

Yours Global is a travel-inspired app company founded by avid travellers Todd Williams and Laura Hobson. Their first product, YourSweep, is a safety app that uses smartphone hardware together with AI-powered technology to carry out sophisticated on-device security sweeps. It can help identify hidden physical privacy concerns such as concealed cameras and trackers, as well as digital threats related to shared or rogue Wi-Fi networks and NFC-enabled electronic locks and keys.

Todd is an Associated Press Award-winning journalist, while Laura is an internationally exhibited artist and arts community organiser. The two met while living in Seoul, South Korea, where Todd was writing for a magazine and Laura was running an international art collective and studio. They later moved to Taipei, Taiwan, where they started their own magazine and arts studio focused on international arts and cultural exchange. Laura and Todd shared more about the journey behind Yours Global.

How did you come up with the idea to create a startup?

“Yours Global became a focus for us through many conversations about what we would like to see in the travel industry. We have always been entrepreneurial as creators, and travel has been a key reason why we work so hard. We want to help others experience the world in the way we do, with a mindset similar to the phrase: ‘a stranger is only a friend you haven’t met yet’.

The idea for YourSweep came to us while we were at Shilin Night Market, the largest night market in northern Taiwan. We began thinking about a security app that could give more people the confidence to step outside their comfort zone and experience new places and cultures.

It was also inspired by our sisters and how fiercely protective they are of their families. We felt that concern for safety should not have to limit someone’s ability to explore the world.

Through our own travels, we have also stayed in plenty of hotels and used public Wi-Fi and other shared spaces where we wished there had been a tool that could give us greater peace of mind about hidden devices or digital security concerns. We have three applications in mind for Yours Global, but we decided to begin with safety – because the connection and personalised travel tools we want to build do not work without safety first.”

What have been the biggest challenges or failures, and the biggest wins so far?

“The biggest challenge has probably been moving with our two cats from our tropical island home in Taiwan to Estonia!

At the same time, it has been an incredible experience to build a completely new network and navigate a new field. We find the challenge genuinely rewarding. We wake up excited to get to work – and sometimes we are too excited to sleep – because building this feels so thrilling.”

What sets Yours Global apart from competitors?

“Most of our competitors focus on one specific type of threat – for example, cameras, trackers or Wi-Fi – and we have not seen anyone else addressing NFC security in the same way. YourSweep checks for all four.

We are also working hard to make the solution as easy to use and understand as possible, so that sophisticated security tools can serve a much wider market.

Another important development has been our shift from thinking of YourSweep as a travel or holiday app to seeing it as an everyday safety app. Hidden devices and digital privacy concerns are not limited to hotels or holiday rentals. They can also appear in malls, cafés, changing rooms and many of the other shared spaces people use every day.”

Why did you apply to the Tehnopol Startup Accelerator?

“We moved to Estonia because the startup ecosystem here is unique – and it works. We wanted to learn from the best, and those people are at Tehnopol. Tehnopol’s events also helped us through the long winter while giving us opportunities to learn and grow as people who were new to both the Estonian technology scene and the Estonian winter itself.”

Where do you see your startup in 1 year? And in 5 years?

“In one year, we see YourSweep being used in more shared spaces that have traditionally relied on trust alone when it comes to privacy and security. We want YourSweep to provide detailed reports showing how it has been used to create safer physical and digital environments for Airbnbs, hotels, gyms, clothing stores, coffee shops, travelling employees and many other users and spaces.

In five years, we hope it will have established itself as an industry standard for duty of care — both for the providers of shared spaces and for their users. More broadly, we want YourSweep to help people better understand the real privacy and security risks they may encounter in everyday life.”

Who is the next Estonian unicorn?

“We’re putting our bet on a travel superapp. Maybe it will be one place where a user can meet like-minded travellers nearby on a 3D globe, get custom tailoring through an AI fitting room and hand-picked tailors in Vietnam, find a bar or restaurant that perfectly matches their taste and the amount of time they have available – and stay safe while doing all of it. The entire ecosystem might already be sitting, completed, in someone’s code.”

Which books, podcasts, publications and people in your field do you follow and recommend to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

Laura recommends the podcast People I (Mostly) Admire, hosted by Steven Levitt of Freakonomics Radio. It is a great source of inspiration for hearing passionate and successful people talk about their approaches to life, their industries and achieving their goals.

Todd does not read many things written after the year 1900, but he recommends reading about places and imagining how you are going to take your own adventure to them.

The new application round for the Startup Accelerator begins in spring 2027 but you can already register your interest here. At the moment, you can submit an application for the DeepTech Accelerator. Find out more here!