Jiobit, the Chicago-based startup making wearable GPS trackers for children and pets, has raised a new round of funding to help it keep up with the growing demand for its products.
The company announced Monday that it has raised $6.5 million in a financing round that included California-based NETGEAR, MATH Venture Partners and Techstars Ventures. Other investors include Wakestream Ventures, Sandalphon Capital and Uber Executive Lior Ron. This latest funding brings Jiobit’s total funding to $11 million.
Jiobit will use the new money for sales and marketing initiatives, and to hire more software engineers. Right now, the startup employs 22 people, but Jiobit Founder and CEO John Renaldi said he aims to grow the staff to 30 over the next few months.
“We’ve had tremendous growth over the summer,” Renaldi said. “We are growing so fast and so quick that we decided we needed to fundraise sooner than we thought to continue that growth momentum.”
Jiobit’s tracker uses a combination of GPS and beacon technology to track the location of who’s wearing it while simultaneously sending that information to a smartphone app that lets parents and pet owners monitor locations. The device costs $99 and users pay $9 per month to use the tracking service.
Jiobit launched originally in 2016 only selling the child tracker, and as it saw the market potential for animals, launched Jiobit for Pets last year.
Renaldi said Jiobit’s sales grew 580 percent just from July to September. He wouldn’t disclose exactly how many devices the startup has sold, but said it is in the thousands and that the company has nearly 10,000 subscribers.
In addition to receiving funding from NETGEAR, Jiobit has also established a partnership with the computer networking company in which NETGEAR will help Jiobit better market its product to consumers, and streamline its manufacturing and supply chain processes.
“Connecting families with the most advanced technology is at the core of NETGEAR’s mission, and Jiobit is working to provide just that. Jiobit’s objective to offer peace of mind through location tracking technology is exactly the kind of mission we want to be a part of,” said David Henry, NETGEAR’s senior vice president of connected home products, in a statement.
The startup's products are sold out right now, but once they’re back in stock, consumers can buy them on their website. The company also plans to sell its products on Amazon by the first quarter of 2019.
Although Jiobit is designed to track small children and pets, Renaldi said his customers use it for all sorts of purposes. Many use it for special needs children, others use it for elderly family members and friends, and even marathoners have found use for it.
“It’s a huge market—much bigger than people understand or think,” Renaldi said.
The startup has also begun signing on enterprise customers, like government agencies in the national defense and security space, Renaldi said.
“That’s a super exciting part of our business that is going to grow tremendously over the next 24 months,” Renaldi said.
