Location Labs Buys Wirkle And Volly, May Hunt For More
October 27, 2011
By Lizette Chapman - Emeryville, Calif.
"We're in very active discussions" with European wireless carriers, he said, noting Location Labs has deals with U.S. carriers including Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.
Location tracking company Location Labs, Inc. has acquired two companies--additions intended to help it become the standard personal security layer built into mobile phones worldwide.
Deal terms weren't disclosed, although founder and Chief Executive Tasso Roumeliotis said the combined dollar value was "in the millions."
The larger of the two acquisitions is Wirkle Inc. The profitable 30-person company, which has offices in Mountain View, Calif., and in India, has been providing its mobile platform to Location Labs for more than a year. Roumeliotis said the company, which generates several million dollars a year in revenue, has helped his company scale and port its solutions to multiple mobile platforms.
The other acquired company, Los Angeles-based Volly Inc., a group messaging company with fewer than 5 employees, will enable Location Labs to improve its alerts function.
Together, the two deals increase Location Labs' headcount to more than 150 and set the stage for what Roumeliotis indicated would be a push to expand globally.
"We're in very active discussions" with European wireless carriers, he said, noting Location Labs has deals with U.S. carriers including Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.
Location Labs has a suite of applications built around mobile tracking technology, geared toward greater safety and security. Safely Locate is a mobile location service that allows subscribers to keep tabs on loved ones through alerts and online activity reports via AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere. Safely Drive is a carrier-grade, safe-driving service available via Sprint DriveFirst and T-Mobile DriveSmart Plus. And Safely Social Monitor is an online service that helps parents stay informed about kids' social network activities.
Founded in 1999 as WaveMarket Inc., the company changed its name to Location Labs just over a year ago. It has raised $26 million to date from the likes of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), Qualcomm Ventures, Intel Capital and Mitsui Ventures.
The company is making more than $20 million in annual revenue and has been profitable for the past two years.
Roumeliotis said he does not see an immediate need to raise additional venture capital, but may explore that to bankroll future acquisitions.