SkyBitz

SkyBitz is a United States company that serves the transportation industry with its primary product and service: tracking of trailers.

History and Founder

SkyBitz was founded by Matthew Schor in the early 1990s, and was known at the time as Eagle Eye Technologies, Inc. In 1994 the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Eagle Eye the first of two contracts to design a satellite based tracking system. In 1998 the United States Air Force awarded the Eagle Eye the first of another two contracts to miniaturize the tracking system and reduce its power consumption. The company's Chief Scientist, Dr. Mark Sullivan, and a Vice President, Mr. James Kilfeather, invented and received patents on many of the technologies used by SkyBitz.

Financial Backing

In July of 2000, Zero Gravity Venture Partners invested in a Series A venture capital round. With this investment, SkyBitz was able to bring to market a unique tracking device which operated via MSAT satellite and an associated software service to deliver tracking information to trucking fleets throughout the United States.

Commercial Launch

In early 2002, the company succeeded in attracting a long time transportation industry veteran, Michael Fitzgerald, as CEO. In October of 2002 the company announced its commercial launch. Landstar was one of the early adopters of the service in January of 2003. The FCC approved expanding SkyBitz's license from 20,000 units to 100,000 units to support its growth. In November of 2002, AIG Highstar Capital and Cordova Ventures led an $18M Series B investment in SkyBitz. With this investment SkyBitz was strongly backed and able to compete with existing firms such as Terion, Axonn, and the wireless business unit of Qualcomm. In March of 2003 the company hired a new CEO and CFO. In January of 2004, Inverness Capital and Motorola joined in backing SkyBitz in a $16M Series C investment. In March of 2004 the CEO resigned and the company's CFO became the CEO. The company's website can be found at www.skybitz.com