Jiobit, a Chicago startup that creates tracking devices for kids and pets, is being scooped up by a San Francisco tech firm.
Life360, a popular family tracking app, is acquiring Jiobit for $37 million in stock and debt, but the deal could be worth up to $54.5 million if Jiobit hits certain performance metrics. The deal is expected to close in the coming months, Jiobit CEO John Renaldi said.
The deal allows Life360 to expand beyond the smartphone into wearable devices, as Jiobit’s devices will be incorporated into the company's family safety membership. Life360 members will get discounted access to Jiobit devices, the company said. Life360 has 26 million monthly active users.
Jiobit will operate as a subsidiary of Life360 and has no plans to change its branding, Renaldi said.
Jiobit has 25 employees, who are all joining Life360. Renaldi said with Life360's investment, Jiobit plans to double its headcount "in a very short period of time.”
"The organization will be growing significantly in Chicago with their investments in the business," he said.
Jiobit was founded in 2015 by Renaldi, a former Motorola executive who created the device after briefly losing track of his own child in Maggie Daley Park. Its main product is a tracking device that attaches to a child's clothes and sends alerts to a parent's smartphone when they've left their side. It uses a combination of GPS and beacon technology to track where the child is, and it can also measure heights — like if the child is on the top of a slide or on the third floor of a shopping mall.
In 2017, Jiobit launched a version for pets, which Renaldi said has grown to account for 35% of the company's total sales. And earlier this year it launched a new device with extra safety capabilities designed for elderly users.
The startup had raised $12 million in venture funding from investors like MATH Venture Partners, NETGEAR, Sandalphon Capital and Techstars.
