Startup City Honors SW Florida-based iGPS

Startup City Magazine named iGPS as one of the nation’s 15 most-promising wearable tech startups.

The award and a feature story in the most recent issue of the magazine devoted to covering startups boosted the firm’s reputation as the leading provider of parent-controlled smart watches that monitor children’s safety. “We were surprised and grateful for the award which recognized our leading-edge technology,” says Dallas Vasquez, the CEO of iGPS who launched the company in 2015 with his brother Anthony Vasquez.

Using iGPS’ secure mobile-phone app, parents can see their children’s location on a map, send them messages and even speak with them when they’re wearing the colorful child-sized GPS-enabled watch. The watch’s geo-fencing capability notifies parents if their children step out of a geographic perimeter such as a playground or neighborhood the parents established using the app.

Children can use the watch to find their way home, even if their parents aren’t responding immediately. “If a child gets lost, it gives them step-by-step instructions how to get home using a map on the watch and little dots showing them the path,” says Vasquez.

The company’s innovation is so compelling that it has been chosen as a Capstone Project for EMBA students at UCLA Anderson School of Management, the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles. iGPS had to qualify and then be selected among several competing projects that were presented to EMBA students and staff. In addition, the UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator invited iGPS to pitch to venture-capital investors recently.

Parents can buy the colorful watch that fits snugly on a child’s wrist on Amazon or the company’s website (www.igpswatch.com) for $119.95. Because the watch comes with its own SIM card, parents can instantly activate the cellular-connected device after they download the iGPS app to their smartphone, register and select their monthly service plan. The watch is connected to a cellular network just like a mobile phone and the monthly fee is $14.95.

Vasquez says another unique feature includes a sensor on the watch that alerts parents if the device is removed from the child’s wrist. The company’s proprietary software will allow iGPS to modify, change and improve features over time. The company focuses on proactive solutions to help parents contact, locate, monitor, and protect their children and help them develop good habit-forming skills.

“The watch is much more secure than a mobile phone because the parent controls every aspect of it, including limiting its functionality during school hours and loading it with parent-approved phone numbers,” says Vasquez. “Schools are starting to reach out to us because it’s much less disruptive than a cell phone.”

After more than two years of researching and testing hardware and software, iGPS launched the watch in 2017 and sales have surged by triple-digit percentage rates. In addition to the U.S., the iGPS watch is available in the United Kingdom and Mexico. Vasquez says the watch will be available in U.S. stores and more countries later this year.

You can read the Startup City article on iGPS here: https://wearable-it.startupcity.com/vendor/igps-watch-smart-wearables-that-provide-better-child-safety-cid-109-mid-20.html .

About iGPS iGPS designs wearable cellular-connected devices that focus on safety and communication, delivering solutions to help families communicate and stay connected to each other. The company is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, with a satellite office in California where it provides customer service, technical support, billing administration and complete customer care. For more information visit www.igpswatch.com.