The IPS Group, a specialized San Diego cellular technology company, is raising $1.5 million in funding from individual investors as part of a shift to the development of high-tech parking meters. The privately held company has raised more than $1.3 million so far, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company launched its line of parking meters, which are solar-powered, wireless, and Internet-enabled, in May 2008, says Chad Randall, IPS Group’s chief operating officer. “We think we have a product that is not just unique in our space, but is also timely in the current economy as a way for municipalities to increase their revenue,” Randall says.
The funding is intended for general working capital, and investors are current shareholders, Randall says. IPS Group’s president and CEO, David W. King, also is the majority owner of the company, which has 15 employees. The meters represent a strategic shift for the IPS Group and are now the primary focus of the business, which previously specialized in wireless telecommunications equipment.
Randall says the company’s parking meters offer several advantages over existing insert-coin-and-twist-the-lever technology. A solar cell and rechargeable battery makes each unit entirely self-powered, and wireless capabilities give motorists the option of either inserting coins or using a credit card to feed the meter . And because each meter is Web-enabled, Randall says city officials can use a desktop computer linked to the Internet to track each meter’s revenues. The Internet also makes it far easier, logistically, for a city to increase its parking rates.
“Our meter really plugs in seamlessly to current meter operations,” Randall says. IPS Group even has designed its meter as a retrofit unit, so it can be installed on the poles of existing parking meters.
“What we’re providing is exceptional convenience to users and exceptional convenience to our customers,” Randall says. He maintains that IPS Group’s meters increase municipal parking revenue in two ways. “People typically pay for more time when they use the credit card payment option [rather than available change]. That’s No. 1,” he says. “And quite honestly, a lot of municipalities are interested in increasing their rates—but they’re reluctant to do so because of the increased inconvenience to the public, in terms of requiring them to carry more change.”
IPS sells its meters from coast to coast, and Randall says demand has been so strong that he predicts, “Our installed base in the next six to nine months will increase tenfold.”
