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AAP
Derek Rose

Life360 eyes satellites for location tracking boost

Life360 founder and CEO Chris Hulls says the company is hitting new records. (Derek Rose/AAP PHOTOS)

An ASX-listed tech company has unveiled a partnership that would potentially let its customers find their lost keys and track their teenagers and pets via orbiting satellites.

Life360 announced on Friday it is partnering with Hubble Network, a satellite company founded by its co-founder and former chief technology officer, Alex Haro.

"He's proven this tech, as sci-fi as it sounds," Life360 chief executive Chris Hulls said.

Hubble right now only has two satellites, "but they're there, circling around in space", Mr Hulls said.

According to a video presentation from Hubble, the company has patented a "phased-array" technology which would allow more than a hundred tiny antennae floating in orbit to combine into a virtual "magnifying glass for radio waves."

The network is designed to work with off-the-shelf 3.5mm Bluetooth chips via a simple firmware update, according to Hubble, a startup that raised $US20 million ($A30 million) in a series a round last year.

"The plan for us in the short-term: we just give them access to our network, let them use our Tile devices. They can be to market very quickly with an enterprise tracking business; we're gonna get a rev share there," Mr Hull said.

"And then, as their satellite constellation comes on, we're going to put the technology into our Tiles," he continued.

"That's going to give us a big leapfrog, in terms of how our devices can be really better than anything on the market."

Life360's cross-platform Tile Bluetooth trackers compete with Apple's AirTag and Samsung's SmartTag, helping customers locate lost keys, wallets and similar items.

Life360 intends to make a small investment in Hubble Network as part of the partnership, which will primarily target enterprise applications such as tracking pallets on ships.

Life360 expects the network to launch in early 2025.

In addition to its Tile devices, Life360's flagship product is its smartphone app that offers detailed family tracking services, mostly aimed at parents with teenagers.

The company launched its full tier of premium service offerings, including crash detection and breakdown assistance, to its customers in Australia and New Zealand late last month.

Mr Hull said that, so far, the offering was trending better than its launch in Canada.

Life360 also announced on Friday that its first-quarter revenue rose 15 per cent to $US78.2 million ($A118.2 million), with its net loss down to $US9.8 million ($A14.8 million), from $US14 million ($A21 million) a year ago.

Life360's monthly average users (MAU) climbed by 4.9 million to reach 66.4 million globally, including 2.2 million in Australia and New Zealand.

"Across the board, (we are) hitting ... new records," Mr Hull said.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Wei-Weng Chen said the results were broadly in line with expectations.

The San Francisco-based company also announced it had filed for a dual listing on the Nasdaq, but would retain its ASX listing.

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