Philadelphia startup ChargeItSpot is expanding beyond its flagship phone-charging kiosk, targeting the logistics industry with the launch of its new mobile device management lockers.
ChargeItSpot has raised $25 million from investors since it was founded in 2011 with a simple offering: phone charging stations set up in retail stores to keep customers shopping longer. After 10 years, the startup has now debuted ARC, or Asset Recharge Center — a kiosk designed to keep track of and charge mobile devices used by retail teams, distribution centers, hospitals and more.
Retailers and warehouses are increasingly using smart devices to keep track of operations and inventory levels. The rugged handheld device market — which includes phones, tablets and scanners — is projected to be valued at $4.1 billion by 2027, according to a report from Dublin-based Research and Markets.
The idea for ARC came to CEO Douglas Baldasare after hearing from retail clients who asked if he could take the technology behind in-store phone chargers and apply it to company-owned devices. Keeping track of thousands of company-owned devices has proven to be difficult, expensive and time-consuming for retailers and other businesses, Baldasare said.
“It’s not only a loss of payroll hours, it’s a loss of dollars from when devices go missing and you have to overstock back-ups,” Baldasare said. “It’s a real waste of time and money.”
ARC is a locker system with built-in chargers that employees can use to check in and check out devices like phones or tablets using their badges. If a device is not put back in the locker within 24 hours, the system signals that it was not returned by the employee that checked it out.
Employees can note problems or defects with the device when they check it back in, which will alert the company’s headquarters that a new device must be ordered, and an ARC technician will mail the defective device back to the company.
“They’ll always have the number of devices they need,” Baldasare said. “They don’t have to overstock. They’re not waiting for a number of them to accumulate before dealing with them. They’re replenishing in real time.”
ARC officially launched a pilot with several eight-locker kiosks last September at a warehouse run by Comoto, the parent company of Philadelphia-based Revzilla. The pilot with Comoto shrank the company’s device loss rate of 25% down to zero, Baldasare said.
ChargeItSpot is now taking the ARC product national to its retail clients after developing a 50-locker kiosk that's set to debut in March.
The company is starting in retail because that’s where it has the most relationships and a proven track record with customers, Baldasare said. ChargeItSpot's phone-charging stations are available in retailers including Target, Nordstrom, Under Armour and Gap across more than 40 states.
The startup is now actively raising a growth equity round, Baldasare said. He declined to share revenue figures.
The next steps for ARC will be looking into other logistics businesses, such as distribution centers, hospitals, entertainment venues, hospitality companies, stadiums and hotels. Distribution centers are the next target because they’re just one degree removed from retail, but they measure and value productivity down to the second, he said.
“They need devices to be functioning, and they're growing super fast and they're tight on labor so they need to make their existing employee base as efficient as possible,” Baldasare said.
