This iPhone case has a built-in charging cord

The team behind Boomerang wants to make sure that as long as iPhone users have their phones, they also have a way to stay charged up.

How? The Columbia-based company is looking to bring an iPhone case to market with a built-in charging cable.
Ryan Bogle said the idea grew out of his own need for charging on-the-go, which he found was an issued for lots of people he knows.
“They never sit still long enough to charge their phone at all. You charge it up to 10 percent and you run out, and you’re gone,” he said.
The built-in cord, team members said, negates the need to remember a charging cord as one of the many things you need when you’re walking out the door. Within the case, the retractable USB cable is located in a small door on the back of the phone. The cord, which is stored inside the case, can stretch two feet from the phone, and retracts with a button.
The design team is also introducing an accessory called a boost top, which extends battery life by 40 percent. Marketing and research team member Max Fashola, who came up with the Boomerang name, called the feature a “spare tire.”
The seven-member team designed and built all of the case features, from the case through the cord itself. Through that design process, the team focused on making the case a lifestyle product. Ramirez created a slimmer look to give the product a “cool factor.”
“The sleekness, the design and the practicality. We feel that between this group we’ve been able to cover all three,” said Fashola, pointing to a group of prototypes that evolved over time to the current design.

Four members of the team — Martin Figueroa-Ramirez, Fashola, Rachel Rowe and Bogle — knew each other in various capacities, and some members worked on a photosharing app called Steez. They’re handling charge of creative, marketing and design of the case. The team also enlisted the help of Bogle’s father David Bogle and entrepreneur Chris Warren, who handled engineering, through a family connection.
To produce an initial prototype, the company teamed with engineer Karan Rage of Vasoptic Medical, who recently moved into Mindgrub’s space in Locust Point from offices in Columbia. When working out of the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship, Rage and Vasoptic sought to help companies with 3D printing. Rage worked with the team over the last year.
“This would’ve been a much longer road had we not actually been able to print what we had designed in detail,” Warren said.
After eight iterations, the basic design and engineering are in place. Now, the company is ready to go after funding to produce the case.
The team has a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo which has raised more than $21,000. Backers of the product can also purchase a case.

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“I think it speaks to the tech hub that Baltimore’s growing into,” Ramirez said. “The fact that we can reach out to someone to do these 3D-printed prototypes and streamline the design process. All we need now is the money for tooling and we can start producing these.”
Now that they’re moving into this next phase, the company is seeking to make more connections in Baltimore’s tech community.