Location Labs, creator of Safely, the leader in mobile and location-based security software, today announced expansion in India, with the acquisition of Wirkle Inc., a leading mobile product development company with operations in California and Gurgaon (NCR), India. Tapping the opportunity in personal safety and security leveraging mobile technologies, the India Development Center will also serve as the base for India sales operations for Location Labs.
Several Wirkle team members will be based in Location Labs’ India Development Center in Gurgaon (NCR) led by Wirkle CEO and Co-Founder, Varun Khurana. The sales team in India will be led by Retired Lt. General Ashok Agarwal, former President of the reputed Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE). The team also includes former employees of Reliance, TATA Indicom, and Samsung India.
“India is a vibrant and a very significant market for us. We looked at many different mobile companies and were extremely impressed by the talents and mobile expertise of Wirkle,” said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO and Founder of Location Labs. “The acquisition of IP, products, and team signify a milestone for Location Labs as we accelerate our growth in the mobile personal security space.”
In October 2011, Location Labs announced the acquisition of Wirkle as well as Volly, a mobile group messaging company . These acquisitions increased the Location Labs’ core team to more than 150 strong. With new mobile engineers and product managers, Location Labs will strengthen investment in its Safely suite of services.
Wirkle’s mobile platform for iPhone and Android has powered applications such as OfficeDrop and VideoSurf and boasts millions of mobile users. Wirkle is also profitable, generating millions of dollars in revenue per year. The company was founded by Varun Khurana, Lomesh Dutta and Sunil Goyal in 2006.
“We are delighted to be joining the Location Labs team,” said Varun Khurana, CEO and Co-Founder of Wirkle. “Working with this industry leader, together we will grow the development team and build the next generation of mobile personal safety and security services for a growing global customer base.”
With deep expertise in location-based services and mobile application development, the Wirkle team expands Location Labs’ already strong core team of engineering and product innovators.
Location Labs continues its aggressive growth including the acquisition of companies and IP.
About Location Labs and Safely
Established by Location Labs in 2011, SafelySM provides services that enhance the safety of millions of families. Nearly a dozen Tier 1 wireless carrier services are powered by Safely, helping parents to keep tabs on loved ones through mobile alerts and online activity reports.
Safely includes: Safely Locate, a mobile location service available via AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere; Safely Drive, the only carrier-grade, patent-pending safe-driving service on the market, available via Sprint DriveFirst and T-Mobile DriveSmart Plus; and Safely Social Monitor, an online service that helps parents stay informed about kids’ social network activities.
Location Labs has raised $26MM in venture financing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), QUALCOMM Ventures, Intel Capital, and Mitsui Ventures and was named to Inc.’s 500/5000 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in both 2010 and 2011. For more information: http://www.Safely.com and http://www.LocationLabs.com.
