MetAlert Profile
MetAlert, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in designing, developing, manufacturing, distributing, and selling products and services in GPS/BLE wearable technology, personal location, wandering assistive technology, and health data collection and monitoring.
The company offers a global end-to-end hardware, software, and connectivity solution, in addition to developing two-way tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products and enterprise applications.
With over 20 years of experience and an extensive patent portfolio with more than twenty-five patents, the company provides solutions for consumers/patients afflicted with Alzheimer, Dementia, and Autism (ADA).
Using its award-winning patented GPS SmartSole as a hub for collecting and transmitting data to the cloud in real-time, the company is expanding its value proposition to consumers and increasing its revenue per user (RPU) while creating the largest database of health statistics for ADA consumers/patients. The company generates revenue from product sales, recurring subscriptions, intellectual property licensing, and professional services. The company has international distributors servicing customers in over 35 countries and is an approved U.S. military government contractor. Customers include public health authorities and municipalities, emergency and law enforcement, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes and consumers.
The company owns 100% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of its two subsidiaries - Global Trek Xploration, Inc. (Global Trek Xploration) and LOCiMOBILE, Inc. (LOCiMOBILE). Utilizing Global Positioning System (GPS), cellular, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Near Field Communications (NFC), Radio Frequency (RF), and WiFi technologies through a proprietary enterprise monitoring platform and licensing subscription business model, the company offers a complete end to end solution of hardware, middleware, apps, connectivity, and professional services that can track and monitor people or assets at the touch of a button in real-time. In addition to selling products and monthly service subscriptions, the company generates revenues through licensing its technology and intellectual property, custom development projects and the sale of OEM medical devices and supplies. Its products and services are sold and distributed through a global business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) network of resellers, affiliates, distributors, non-profit organizations, local, state, and federal government agencies, police departments, manufacturers reps and retailers. Offering a variety of electronic and non-electronic devices and equipment, a proprietary Internet of things (IoT) enterprise monitoring platform and a licensing, subscription business model for its technology and intellectual property.
The company’s flagship product is its award-winning, patented GPS SmartSole tracking and monitoring solution, which is the invisible wearable technology GPS tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism, and traumatic brain injury. The GPS SmartSole is reimbursable through Medicaid or various insurance providers and government agencies in some U.S. States, Canada, Norway, and the U.K.
The company has developed, sold and commercially launched numerous products, including its GPS Smart Shoes, SmartSoles, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) SmartSoles, hand-held GPS tracking devices, a proprietary custom military personnel and asset tracking solution, a weapons tracker, pet tracker, infant tracker and more than 20 smartphone and tablet Apps, all supported by its hosted and scalable backend monitoring platform and intellectual property portfolio. The company has multiple product lines consisting of its core wearable tech SmartSole line, Military line, OEM devices and supplies, professional services, Near Field Communications (NFC) asset tracking and intellectual property licensing. The business units generate various revenue streams, such as product sales, recurring subscriptions, software, and intellectual property (IP) licensing, fees for custom hardware and software development, along with professional consulting, support, and maintenance services. Many of its products are protected by the company’s intellectual property portfolio of issued patents, licensed patents, patents pending, registered trademarks, copyrights, URLs and a library of proprietary hardware and software designs. The company’s customer base ranges from the U.S. military, foreign military, public health authorities and municipalities, emergency, and law enforcement, first responders, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, business enterprises, senior care homes and direct to consumer.
Business Units
Tracking and Monitoring Technology - The company’s SmartSole line of wearable footwear technology is designed for people with cognitive memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, autism, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Approximately 9 million people in the U.S. and over 100 million worldwide expected to reach 277 million by 2050 fall under this umbrella of people with cognitive disorders. Typically, these people tend to wander and require some wander guard technology and remote oversight. The SmartSoles are comfortable orthotic insoles embedded with a GPS and cellular tracking module, so that a caregiver can know in real time where a loved one is at the touch of a button from any smartphone or computer. The company also leverages its technology platform for use in high value asset tracking, such as drones, small light weight cargo, and other high value mobile assets that require a robust, small footprint and low power consumption hardware and software platform. The company has been working on expanding this unit to include Short Range and Logistics tracking, utilizing BLE and NFC technology for tracking valuable assets across the supply chain, such as expensive clothing, wines, foods, or pharmaceuticals. BLE - Bluetooth Low Energy and NFC – Near Field Communication are a short-range wireless protocol that triggers data exchange from one device to another. The chip is about the size of a nickel and can be attached, embedded, sewn, glued, embroidered, and even ironed on or otherwise affixed to just about any person or product, including print materials, packaging, and wearables.
Medical Supplies – In 2020, the company expanded its product line from medical devices to high quality Health & Safety protective equipment and supplies, ranging from hearing assisted technology to masks, sanitizing equipment, UV sterilization equipment, and rapid test kits. With many of its products made or sourced in the U.S. The company engages in a licensing and monetization campaign.
IP and Technology Licensing - many of the company’s patents were issued over the past 10 years and it continues to add new patents to its portfolio, and as GPS and wearable technology becomes more ubiquitous and used in numerous products, the company intellectual property portfolio is garnering interest within the tech community. The company engages in a licensing and monetization campaign. Over 150 companies that could potentially license some or all the company’s IP have been identified and so far, it has signed 14 licensing agreements.
Strategy
The company has been ramping up its product distribution and sales channels and, as of December 31, 2022, the company had live units in the field and / or paying subscribers in over 40 countries, with customers and distributors in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa. In the U.S. the company sells direct to the consumer through its online ecommerce platform, a host of retailers and resellers along with hundreds of online affiliates. The company also manages direct business to business (B2B) enterprise and government sales through its business development team and advisors. The B2B initiatives consist of supporting existing distributors along with bringing on new distributors, working with the U.S. and Foreign agencies, to support existing business and secure new business, and domestically to work with local, state, and federal agencies to acquire reimbursement codes for its line of SmartSoles. As of December 31, 2022, the company had been issued a vendor number for reimbursement in 11 U.S. states and internationally in Canada, Norway, Sweden and in the U.K. the National Health Services (NHS) began conducting regional pilots for the wander assistive GPS SmartSoles, in urban centers with high populations of seniors afflicted with dementia. Under these reimbursement programs, the SmartSoles are either partially (50% to 60%) or sometimes up to (100% including the monthly subscriptions) paid for or subsidized by the local, state, or federal grants or through insurance reimbursement. As additional resources become available, the company plans to apply for new grants and private insurance reimbursement along with other health and municipal services both domestically and in other countries.
Products and Services
GPS SmartSole and the SmartSole plus – a wearable orthotic insole GPS tracking, monitoring and recovery solution for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimer’s, dementia and autism.
Take Along Tracker 4G – A stand-alone miniature tracking and SOS device that allows for GPS capabilities, plus 4G, GSM, data and voice as well as a 3-way motion sensor.
Track My Workforce – A mobile app allowing employers to monitor mobile employees like drivers and sales representatives through their Smartphone.
Sole Protector for GPS Smartsole – Created specifically for the GPS SmartSole in order to boost longevity, hygiene, covertness, protection and comfort. Extends the life of the SmartSole with increased shock absorption and water resistance.
Take Along Friends & the Invisabelt - A GPS cellular tracking and monitoring device for young children and toddlers.
Protective Medical Devices and Supplies – Ranging from PPE’s, such as masks, sanitizers, face shields, UV wands and assorted equipment all the way to and including Antibody and Antigen rapid test kits and hearing assisted technologies.
VeriTap - An NFC tag and middleware application designed to monitor logistics and assets in the supply chain.
Customers
The company, along with its international distributors, services thousands of consumers, hundreds of businesses, and dozens of local, state, and federal government agencies, across 6 continents. The company also sells products and services to the U.S. Military and law enforcement agencies and is an approved government contractor. Other the company’s customers include public health authorities, municipalities, and Universities, in the U.S., Canada and across Europe. The company also has a vendor number in 11 U.S. States and sells to local and state agencies supported by Medicare and Medicaid. Other customers range from retailers, healthcare facilities, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes, and security companies. The company also has several branded products and sells direct to the consumer.
Intellectual Property
The company’s IP portfolio not only supports the company’s core product lines by creating barriers of entry to competitors, but also underscores the company’s intrinsic value and generates revenues from out bound licensing. The company’s early investment in IP dates to 2002 and demonstrates its commitment to developing innovative technology in the growing wearable GPS, LBS and RTLS space. The GTX IP portfolio underpins its business and provides support across all its business units. The portfolio addresses three core areas: Footwear, Communication and International coverage and as of December 31, 2022, the company had twenty-two (22) patents and several trademark registrations. These include eighteen (18) issued U.S. utility patents, three of which are insole patents, two (2) issued U.S. design patents, and two (2) other pending U.S. utility patent applications. The company also has two (2) issued Mexican utility patents and one (1) pending European foreign national patent application based on its the U.S. filings. In addition to the five (5) comm protocol’s (program-to-program communications access methods), which falls under GTX U.S. Patent 8,760,286, commonly referred to as the 286 GTX patent family, the company also has several patents on the device side. The international multi- pronged IP protection approach is part of the overall intellectual property strategy protecting all aspects of the enterprise and value of its hardware and platform.
The company also has under license one (1) U.S. patent and twelve (12) foreign patents. Included under the IP portfolio the company has U.S. trademark registrations including, but not limited to, registrations for the marks LOCi and LOCIMOBILE. In addition, another U.S. trademark application for GPS SMART SOLE SATELLITE MONITORING AND REALTIME TRACKING, GTX CORP, and WITH YOU.
As part of its outbound IP licensing monetization campaign in June 2016, the company signed a revenue share monetization agreement with Inventergy Innovations, LLC (Inventergy), a subsidiary of Inventergy Global, Inc., the first licensing agreement was signed for the monetization campaign was signed in the first quarter of 2019, with last settlement in fourth quarter of 2020.
Technology
The company’s location tracking product design utilizes quad-band GSM/GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) telephony chip sets and can be adapted to the prevalent GSM/GPRS wireless technologies. The company’s modules utilize advanced weak signal server-enhanced technology which provide rapid location identification.
The company continues to modify and upgrade its modules for its SmartSoles and other GPS tracking products. The company can bill for data charges in over 100 countries, thereby increasing its potential markets. The ability to produce a product that can be delivered to foreign market without customization and to bill for data charges in additional countries will enable the company to increase its RPS (revenue per subscriber). The company’s core tracking products (SmartSole, Take-Along-Tracker, OEM modules and Track my Work Force App) are supported by the existing infrastructure for the worldwide cell network that provides coverage throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and numerous other countries that operate on the global GSM Wireless networks. The company’s personal locator modules have the ability to operate on the networks of 290 carriers in over 210 countries.
Strategic Relationships and Licensing
The company offers location-based hardware and/or IoT data monitoring platform to third parties for the sale and distribution of location-based products/services in various vertical markets. The company begins the process by entering into a platform test agreement or pilot program with a potential partner with the intent to transition into a long-term relationship. By establishing and building partnerships, through licensing agreements, OEM, and carrier relationships, the company facilitates efficient entry into new markets leveraging each third parties core competencies. The company enhances the value of its distribution channels by aligning its sales and marketing efforts with strategic partners, including co-branding, distribution and marketing with telecommunication companies, wireless carriers, national retailers and major consumer branded companies. The company can customize its products into different form factors for the specific needs of customers. As of December 31, 2022, the company had created custom solutions for the monitoring of seniors with cognitive memory disorders by installing the GPS device into specially designed shoes and insoles; the monitoring of children by installing the GPS device into specially designed toys, belts, insoles and backpacks; and the monitoring of various high value assets, such as drones, long guns and other mobile assets.
The company has several key strategic relationships established both on the supply side and the distribution side. Some of the key partners on the supply side are Atlantic Footcare (which manufactures its SmartSoles), Spline (engineering firm), Nordic (which manufactures its GPS and Cellular electronics) and Telefonica (which provides its global connectivity). On the distribution side, the company has numerous partnerships worldwide, ranging from distributors, health organizations, and retailers.
Strategy
The key elements of the company’s growth strategy include providing its Personal Locator hardware module to licensees to empower their products with its two-way GPS tracking capabilities; OEM private label manufacturing; continue expanding its medical reimbursement programs; rolling out bio metrics and NFC; expanding distribution channels; increasing the number of solutions for the military and law enforcement markets; ease of use at the location interface point, as well as with the device, using state-of-the-art cloud computing and cloud application development; and expanding its IP monetization campaign.
Competition
There are numerous competitors for GPS products in general, and for the company’s LOCiMOBILE smart phone applications, including Location Based Technologies, Inc., Google Latitude, Foursquare, Trimble Navigation, Inc., Brick House Security, Verizon, and Trackimo, Inc.
In the government services sector, the company’s competition includes large systems integrators and defense contractors. Some of these competitors include global defense and IT service companies, such as, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.
A number of other companies, such as Trimble Navigation, Zoomback, Verizon, FireFly, Disney, Mattel, Digital Angel Corporation, Location-Based Technologies, Inc. and WebTech Wireless Inc. either have announced plans for new products or have commenced selling products that are similar to the company’s wireless location products, and new competitors are emerging both in the U.S. and abroad to compete with its wireless location services products.
Research and Development
For the year ended December 31, 2022, the company’s research and development expenses were $18,961.
Government Regulation
The company is subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations applied to businesses generally, as well as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), IC and CE wireless device regulations and controls.
History
The company was founded in 2002. It was formerly known as GTX Corp and changed its name to MetAlert, Inc. in 2022.
