Safely Division of Location Labs Acquires Seeker Wireless

EMERYVILLE, CA, Dec 20, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Safely, a division of Location Labs, today announced the acquisition of the patents, technology and products of Seeker Wireless. Safely will use the Seeker technology to strengthen its suite of mobile and location-based security services. Prior to the acquisition, Seeker Wireless had raised $27 million in venture capital.

This news comes on the heels of Safely's recently launched Phone Controls service, available on the Sprint Network, which allows parents to lock kids' phones remotely and see rich graphical representations of how their family calls, texts and uses applications.

"The PhD researchers at Seeker Wireless spent nearly a decade creating patented mobile location-based technologies," said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Safely and Location Labs. "The combination of this technology with Safely services is ripe for market adoption."

The Seeker Wireless IP enhances Safely's already rich patent portfolio which includes the definitive geofencing patent filed in 2002. Seeker's patents include clever derivations of geofencing and lower level mobile location determination.

Seeker Wireless technologies include the unique ability to get location and run geofences on the SIM card of a mobile phone. It is the only technology that allows precision location using a background process for over four billion devices across the globe -- just about any GSM-based mobile phone.

"There are billions of mobile subscribers in places like India, China, Southeast Asia and Latin America that can now participate in location-based services on mobile phones," added Roumeliotis.

Earlier this year, Safely announced the acquisitions of Wirkle, a mobile product development leader, and Volly, a mobile group messaging company.

About Safely Established in 2011, Safely is a division of Location Labs and provides services that enhance the personal security 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; Safely Phone Controls, the most advanced mobile phone remote control and usage analytics service, available via Sprint Mobile Controls; 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 the Inc. 500/5000 list of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies in 2010 and 2011. For more information: http://www.Safely.com and http://www.LocationLabs.com .