Cape Town-based Bloodhound Technologies has sold a 40% stake to two investment partners to raise funds for expansion.
The company, which provides radio frequency identification (RFID) and real-time location systems, sold the stake to Convergence Partners and black-owned Altius Investment Holdings, for an undisclosed amount.
CEO Bernard Slabbert says Bloodhound is focused on providing solutions to the security industry, but wants to expand to other areas such as the medical and logistics fields.
Bloodhound develops a range of real-time personnel location solutions, across a variety of industries, which combine RFID, real-time communication and software technologies.
Real-time tracking
The company's technology is used at the Cape Town Fifa Stadium and was also selected as the preferred technology platform to track personnel on the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link Project.
Slabbert says the solutions at these venues allow staff movements to be monitored on site. He explains that this makes it possible to ensure “the right person is at the right place”.
Other applications being rolled out include a solution for a major private hospital group that will monitor and track the progress of patients undergoing surgical procedures. This will enable automated billing, explains Slabbert.
In the Western Cape, Bloodhound provides a handheld payment solution for a large-scale parking vending business. Internationally, the company's research and development team participated in the creation of an RFID solution to track tools and other equipment used in areas of Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre.
New areas
Slabbert adds that the organisation has started moving its products into other parts of Africa. The expansion capital will allow it to expand its distribution chain, enter new sectors, develop software and hardware, as well as make sure it can manufacture sufficient quantities, he explains.
“This new capital injection comes at the perfect time in the company's growth and enables us to further expand our products to take full advantage of the increasing market opportunities in Southern Africa,” says Slabbert.
Convergence Partners chairman Andile Ngcaba says the company “became interested in RFID systems some years back with a focus on their potential to be deployed as a component of an overall solution rather than as a standalone technology”.
He says, after looking internationally, the firm was “encouraged” to discover a globally competitive, best-in-breed business in SA. “This latest investment further reinforces our view that the country can lead global innovation in niche technology areas.”
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