2022
The story of Brakee began in the summer of 2022. I (Michal Medonos) was still employed at a large corporate manufacturing company at the time. The idea for an electronic emergency brake came when a good friend told me about an accident involving his six-year-old daughter on a bike. After unsuccessfully searching for a solution to prevent such situations, the idea of developing Brakee came to my mind. With my own kids just learning to ride at the time, I also saw great value in bringing to market the first active safety feature for kids’ bikes.
2023
After finding and testing a working principle for the electronic brake, I decided in May 2023 to leave my job and fully dedicate myself to the Brakee project. I was strongly supported in this decision by my wife Veronika, who has stood by my side and has encouraged me from the very beginning. At first, I worked on the project alone, gradually refining the concept of the electronic emergency brake. During this time, the first functional prototypes were built, which I initially tested myself and later with my children. In December 2023, I founded the company Electronic Emergency Brake, s.r.o.
2024
The year 2024 was marked by further work on prototypes, with which Libor and Michal, both experienced developers, gradually began to help me. Here, the most significant shift was in the creation of the first PCB tailored to our electronic brake. Thanks to their help, in addition to development, I was able to start focusing on the business side of my project. This resulted in obtaining a state grant for Technological Incubation at the end of 2024. We also participated in trade fairs for the first time. The first was the Maker Faire in our home town of Jihlava. Based on the unexpected success, we decided to participate in a significantly larger version of Maker Faire in Prague.
2025
The year 2025 is marked by intensive work on the development of the brake.Based on the knowledge and experience gained, we have significantly modified the design of our brake. This concept is gradually moving towards mass production and we have also filed a patent application for our brake solution. Development efforts culminate when our brake passes testing at the Mechanical Testing Institute according to the standards for brakes on both children's and adult bicycles (standards ČSN EN ISO 8098 and 4210-4). This year also represents a significant shift in business activities, especially in terms of marketing with the aim of building awareness of Brakee. We launched a new website and also campaigns on social networks. The highlight was a viral video that received more than 500 thousand views and 5,000 reactions. We also participated in trade fairs this year. The first was the FAB25 trade fair and the second was Maker Faire again this time in Brno. More and more people and companies are also getting involved in cooperation on this project.We have established cooperation with the Bikero store network. I am very pleased to cooperate with the Černí koně organization, which produces special bicycles for disabled children. We have supplied them with the first two brakes for testing and we believe that our cooperation will grow next year. Towards the end of the year, we launched test rents of our brake. All these activities significantly contribute to achieving the goal of launching Brakee on the market in 2026.