A couple of months back, a jewel in the Israeli cleantech crown raised some additional funds (some even coming from Sir Richard Branson). GreenRoad Technologies, with development in Or Yehuda, employs a in-vehicle device that improves driver safety and betters fuel consumption for car fleets. Read Cleantech-Israel’s review of the deal as well.
I’m reading the article and it looks great. GreenRoad’s Safety Center, the firm’s flagship product, seems to be getting traction with fleet operators and insurance firms, looking to decrease accidents and improve efficiencies. While GreenRoad is doing wonderful things for Israeli Cleantech and kudos to them, I’m struck with that fact that Pointer Telocation (PNTR), whose Chairman, investor Yossi Ben Shalom, we interviewed a few months ago, is not a player in this space.
Pointer has an interesting business. While providing road-side services in Israel and abroad, Pointer provides a lot of location-based services for the auto industry. Via RF-systems, the firm can locate autos. Via cellular units, the company has essentially combined GPS and GPRS systems with embedded software together in on box. They also have an impressive command and control system that allows for fleet management and stolen vehicle recovery (SVR).
With a install base and global sales, why isn’t Pointer forging ahead beyond SVR and into more value-added service like GreenRoad is providing? Maybe a partnership is in order?
Disclaimer: Author’s fund holds a position in PNTR as of 7/27/2008.
Zack Miller
IsraelNewsletter.com
The entire interview with Pointer Telocation’s Chairman, Yossi Ben Shalom, is part of our new subscription newsletter, Israel Opportunity Investor. You can find out more about the product and the opportunities we cover at www.israelnewsletter.com
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Hi, Yossi. Can you tell us about your company?
Yossi Ben Shalom, Chairman: Pointer Telocation (Nasdaq: PNTR) develops and supplies location based technologies and provides numerous value-added services to car dealers, auto manufacturers, insurance companies, and fleet managers, including road-side assistance, vehicle towing, stolen vehicle retrieval, and fleet management.
We accomplish this through 3 major sets of technologies:
1. Radio Frequency (RF) systems: these are technologies that communicate and locate an automobile. It’s basic technology that was invented around WWII but we’ve developed it into a low cost system, consisting of bay stations and network management tools. With all of our experience we have created a complete system, and it would be complicated and expensive for someone to come along and try to duplicate our system.
2. Cellular units: We’ve combined GPS and GPRS together in a box with embedded software. We’ve developed our technology with a high sensitivity to both power and air time consumption. We have more than 100,000 units that we’ve sold into the automotive aftermarket, making us a serious player. We have developed an expertise through our experience with different customers, different demands, and working across numerous countries.
3. Command and Control: we’ve invested heavily in developing a very sophisticated system used for fleet management and stolen vehicle recovery (SVR). We can sell our products to car owners, insurance companies, dealers, auto manufacturers, and even to the authorities.
We feel that the market for our products is not yet mature, so we need to offer services to promote consumer uptake. Having our own technology allows us to win new markets for our services. Our main competitors, Lo-Jack (Nasdaq: LOJN) and Ituran (Nasdaq: ITRN), both have similar models.
What’s the difference between Pointer and a company we are more familiar with, AAA?
YBS: First of all, AAA is a US-based service and in 2007, we’ve done no business in the U.S. (Continue »)
