AirBsit has become Bsit: the BeNeLux babysitting app undergoes a name change following a request by the rental platform Airbnb.
Six months ago, two young working mothers, tired of looking for trustworthy babysitters, launched a mobile application: airBsit. Since launching, the babysitting app has seduced over 40,000 users and is active in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg - a very public success as the company was recently asked by Airbnb to change its name.
"We were actually quite surprised," commented Donatienne van Houtryve, one of the app’s creators. "Of course, you could see a reference to Airbnb’s air, but it’s not the only air in the world; air is used in a lot of other things! We certainly didn’t wish to harm anyone. Our idea is to give some breathing space to the parents, hence our slogan «Get some air while they sit!». Moreover, our purpose, our identity and our look and feel are very different from Airbnb’s.”
Nevertheless, the young start-up decided to change its name and will simply be called ‘Bsit’ from this point forward. "Not because some people thought we were an airline seat booking app," Bsit wrote with some humour to its members, but to avoid a long and tenuous court case.
According to Géraldine Biebuyck, the other founding mother, "Our attention is fully focused on the development of our community and the quality of our app. And although the matter is debatable, we felt it would have been a mistake to dedicate time and resources to manage a disagreement."
"Moreover" added Donatienne, "we realised we really liked Bsit. Both shorter and simpler. And simplicity is exactly what we’re looking for."
From Tuesday 24 May, airBsit becomes Bsit and the team will carry on with the app’s development.
This name change will not be the young company’s first (or last) challenge. Dimitri De Boose, Bsit’s CEO, clarified "Concretely, for our members, the app will just be updated. Our solution and our visual identity remain unchanged. And our goal stays the same: making parent’s lives a little bit easier."
