ICT services company Infotech has announced that its acquisition deal with Urbanise, a globally renowned provider of Internet of Things (IoT) and service delivery platforms for buildings, is going ahead.

Urbanise (https://urbanise.com/) is an ASX-listed global creator of a cloud-based platform for delivering building services, with offices in Australia, Dubai, Singapore, Bulgaria and SA.

According to Infotech, the deal involves the multifaceted web-based mobile asset tracking and management platform Intelligen and the established smart utilities cloud platform Wattkeeper (Enermatics).

Wattkeeper is a cloud platform providing smart meter solutions to the energy market, focusing on technology to help users generate tenant bills and common area bills, compare tariffs, optimise usage, and generate reports and business intelligence around utilities. Through its acquisition of Wattkeeper, Urbanise says it will integrate a cloud-based micro-utility billing solution that enables rapid deployment, billing and reading of smart meters for electricity, water and gas.

In addition to providing the standard features of live vehicle tracking, Intelligen gathers data which will assist the user to make informed decisions, optimise performance and eliminate risks.

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Heinrich Venter, CEO of Infotech, says the deal represents a value-add to the market. “This brings to the table a host of benefits that will transform the enterprise and help establish Infotech’s technology offering in a broader market.”

The company says it has initiated a share placement to secure the necessary funds to acquire complementary technology platforms and drive business growth.

Discussing the technology fit, Rob Cumming, chief product officer of Urbanise, says: “The functionality of these technologies not only expands the market segments that can use the Urbanise building service delivery platform, but also fills gaps in our solution set that our customers ask us for every day. Specifically designed for sub-metered communities and buildings, Wattkeeper extends our utility reporting functionality to include residential and commercial meter reading and billing. Intelligen, on the other hand, supercharges our service operations platform – delivering an optimised ‘Uber-like’ experience for every one of our service providers using our mobile apps for delivery and our customer portals and apps for ordering services.”

Ben Churchill, CEO of Urbanise, says the acquisition will result in immediate benefits for local customers.

“The financial impact of offering utility billing to our existing South African sectional title customers alone is significant. In recent market testing, we received five signed expressions of interest from current South African customers to whom we presented the potential new features. Each of the five customers has expressed an interest in using the new modules as they become available. The potential annual recurring revenue from these five customers alone is around US$3 million,” he notes.