Sierra Wireless Completes $37.6 Million Sale of Omnilink
Offender Monitoring Business Grabbed $13.1 Million in 2021 Sales
Sierra Wireless [SWIR] has finalized an agreement to sell its Omnilink offender monitoring business for $37.6 million in cash to Anaheim, Calif.-based Sentinel Advantage. Omnilink, which provides cellular connectivity services, 4G ankle bracelets, and a cloud-based software tracking platform, had $13.1 million in 2021 revenue.
Sierra Wireless will continue to provide Omnilnk, which is owned by Bison Capital Asset Management LLC, with connectivity services and embedded modules for the ankle bracelets, the company said. In addition, the company said it expects 27 employees to become Sentinel Advantage employees.
“The sale of Omnilink unlocks value of a non-core asset and strengthens our balance sheet,” said Phil Brace, Sierra Wireless president and CEO in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with Sentinel as a valuable, growing customer.”
Sierra Wireless said it would provide additional information about the transaction during its May 11, 2022, First Quarter 2021 earnings conference call. Telegraph Hill Advisors LLC acted as financial advisors to Sierra Wireless and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as legal counsel.
Contact: David Climie, Sierra Wireless, dclimie@sierrawireless.com, www.sierrawireless.com.
TomTom Expands Agreement With Maxar Amsterdam
TomTom [TOM2] has expanded its agreement with Maxar Technologies to integrate high-resolution, global satellite imagery into its digital maps. The companies said that the partnership allows TomTom the capability to offer its clients a photorealistic map.
In addition, TomTom’s Automotive and Enterprise software platform offers end users satellite imagery to give them more context of potential challenges on the ground, the company said.
Initially, TomTom will use Maxar’s Vivid base maps, which offer cloud-free imagery layers and updates. Vivid Advanced offers 30-centimeter resolution over the most populated and highest-interest areas of the world, the company said. For remaining areas, Vivid Basic is available at a 50-centimeter resolutions, the company said.
In other company news, TomTom didn’t mention the Maxar partnership, which itself made an investment with geospatial analytics company Blackshark.ai, in a recent earnings call, but had to explain why it suffered a net loss of 21.5 million euros during the first quarter—almost double the loss of 11.5 million euros the year before.
“Our latest estimates for automotive operational revenue growth is 10 percent compared with last year is down from 15 percent, which we gave at start of the year,” said Taco Titulaer, TomTom CFO. “Moreover, the planned increased expenses, which center around our application layer and the further automation of our matchmaking platform are expected to lead to negative free cash flow of around 5 percent of group revenue in 2022.”
Contact: TomTom, tomtom.pr@tomtom.com, www.tomtom.com.
Decentralized Mapmaker Hivemapper Raises $18 Million
Hivemapper, which offers a mapping network with a crypto-integrated dashcam, recently announced an $18 million Series A round led by Multicoin Capital with participation from Craft Ventures, Solana Capital, Shine Capital, and Spencer Rascoff’s 75 and Sunny Ventures.
Joining previous investors Spark Capital, Founder Collective, and Homebrew, the investors bring the company’s total financing to $23 million, the company said. The new funds will be used to support Hivemapper’s mainnet launch this summer, onboard more map contributors, and deliver the company’s first crypto-integrated dashcam, the Hivemapper Dashcam, which will ship in July.
“Hivemapper is a decentralized global map owned and operated by the people. Using a simple dashcam, anyone can contribute mapping data to Hivemapper, which helps put underrepresented geographic regions on the map and keep them up to date,” said Ariel Seidman, Hivemapper and co-founder, in a statement. “A community-owned map is the only way to continuously construct a living, breathing, ever-updating view of our world.”
The Hivemapper Network is a blockchain-based mapping network that incentivizes map coverage, freshness, with crypto incentives and collective ownership, the company said. The network is composed of map contributors and map consumers.
Contact: Maria Karpenko, Hivemapper, maria@hivemapper.com, www.hivemapper.com.
Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
😮 GSMA Postpones MWC Shanghai 2022. “The decision comes at a time of continued restrictions in several Chinese cities, including Shanghai, as authorities attempt to quell Covid-19 cases.”
😧 Google Under Fire for Navigation Apps, Google Maps and Waze Causing Legal Trouble. “According to a recent lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Google used anticompetitive practices that eventually put the company in a position that allowed it to charge more for certain services available to developers.”
👍 Automaker Stellantis To Use Qualcomm Tech in Its Vehicles. “Fourteen Stellantis brands, including Peugeot, Fiat and Jeep, will use Qualcomm's vehicle cockpit and 5G telematics technology starting in 2024 with the Maserati brand being the first out the gate, said the companies, which did not disclose the deal value.”
🚙 Inside Mercedes' Plan To Deliver Hands-free Driving to the Masses. “Mercedes is aiming to be the first automaker to bring legal Level 3 automated driving off the test track to the masses in its full-size, luxury S-Class vehicles. The question is whether it should, especially considering the Everest-sized challenges that lay ahead — even if the economic opportunities include cornering a piece of the estimated $220.4 billion autonomous driving market.”
🚲 Apple Maps Adds Cycling Directions for Users in Chicago, Other US Cities. “Tech giant Apple has expanded the cycling directions in its Maps app to users in some cities in the US, including Chicago, Detroit and Columbus.”
🛩 South African Mining Experts Acquire Underground Drone Maker Inkonova. “Inkonova, a Stockholm-based underground drone mapping specialist, has been acquired by mining consultancy firm RAMJACK.”
🙁 Watch Dan O'Dowd's Ad on the Dangers of Tesla's Full Self-driving Cars. Or is it a political shot?
😲 Is Lidar Necessary for Autonomous Vehicles? “Lidar is a fool’s errand,” Elon Musk said . “Anyone relying on lidar is doomed.”
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Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Oteis Could Own France’s Sigfox This Week?
According to a LinkedIn post, Oteis said it could be in the running to acquire financially troubled IoT giant Sigfox. The Commercial Court of Toulouse, France, will announce its decision on who will own the company on Thursday, April 21, which is after Location Business News’ deadline.
Semtech Offers Multi-band Capabilities to IoT Tracker
Semtech Corp. [SMTC] has announced the addition of multi-band capabilities to its LoRa Edge device-to-Cloud geolocation platform. The LoRa Edge LR1120 allows for direct satellite-connected Internet of Things (IoT) applications in supply chain management and logistics with low-power geolocation, the company said.
With LoRa Edge LR1120, supported by GPS and BeiDou constellations, logistics companies can leverage integrated, low-power trackers with enhanced interoperability, the company said. Some markets include infrastructure, agriculture and environmental monitoring.
Contact: Linh Dinh, Semtech, (805) 250-1263, ldinh@semtech.com, www.semtech.com.
JAVAD GNSS Announces J-Field 4.0 Data Collection Software Release
JAVAD GNSS has released its J-Field 4.0 data collection software for owners of the Triumph-LS Plus. Owners can look at user manuals to receive specific instructions on how to upgrade to the latest version of J-Field, the company said. Some new features include upgrades to the user interface (added map, collect and stake buttons); external base setup, added pairing and unpairing modems over Bluetooth; and a PDF report with residuals and statistics.
Contact: JAVAD GNSS, www.javad.com.
StarChase Signs UK Distribution Partnership
StarChase, a GPS technology company in the law enforcement and defense market, has announced a distribution partnership with United Kingdom-based GMK Ltd. The collaboration expands GMK’s product portfolio while increasing StarChase’s global footprint, the company said.
Surrey and Sussex Police were part of a trial of new technology to address the pressure on police drivers in high-risk pursuits, with an aim to reduce the danger to the public exposed to those who have total disregard for public safety, the company said.
Contact: StarChase, media@starchase.com, www.starchase.com.
ADVA Extends Software to Third-Party GNSS Receivers
ADVA [ADV] has extended its Ensemble Sync Director assurance software to integrate any third-party vendor’s GNSS receiver observables at scale. With ADVA’s aPNT+ technology, Ensemble Sync Director is now vendor-agnostic, providing assured PNT to additional customers, the company said. Ensemble Sync Director can now show and analyze GNSS observables from third-party receivers in even the largest deployments, the company said.
Contact: Gareth Spence, ADVA, 44 1904 699 358, public-relations@adva.com, www.adva.com.
Traxero Merges With Towing Software Companies
Traxero North America has announced towing software providers are coming together as one company…called Traxero. The company will be led by CEO Mark Sedgley, who held the same title at MemberClicks.
Traxero's team includes former Beacon Software, TOPS Dispatch, and Tracker Management employees. The company also has the BudgetGPS fleet management product line.
Contact: Mandy Seaman, mandy.seaman@traxero.co, www.traxero.co.
Phunware Partners With Accion Labs
Phunware [PHUN] has partnered with Accion Labs that allows Accion to be designated as a preferred partner in Phunware's Multiscreen-as-a-Service platform to all current and future clients.
Accion will have direct access to developer resources and support, while Phunware will also be able to leverage Accion's infrastructure to support its clients that require additional services beyond what MaaS offers, the company said.
Contact: Phunware, (512) 693-4199, press@phunware.com, www.phunware.com.
Persistent Systems Offers Tracking Antenna
Persistent Systems has announced the release of its new Multi-Band Tracking Antenna for ground-based communication and tracking of manned and unmanned aircraft—even in hostile RF- and GPS-denied environments. The Multi-Band Tracking Antenna can find and follow aircraft without relying on a satellite-based tracking system like GNSS or GPS, the company said.
Contact: Persistent Systems, www.persistentsystems.com.
GPS Insight Named IoT Vehicle Telematics Company of Year
GPS Insight has been named the 2022 IoT Vehicle Telematics Company of the Year by Compass Intelligence. GPS Insight offers fleet and field solutions, including telematics and location tracking, ELD and regulatory compliance, in-cab cameras and fleet safety, and field service management systems. GPS Insight recently acquired FieldAware.
Contact: Stephanie Atkinson, Compass Intelligence, (210) 378-0651, satkinson@compassintelligence.com
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