Blackline Safety diversifies connected portfolio through acquisition of UK based Wearable Technologies Ltd.

Blackline Safety Corp. has acquired Wearable Technologies Ltd. (WTL), based in Leicester, in the United Kingdom, and operating under the brand name of Eleksen. Focused on the construction and light industrial safety market, WTL has developed a complete platform comprised of smart safety clothing, a cloud-connected safety wearable, personal area networking, sensor partnerships, user portal, software infrastructure and data analytics.

“The Wearable Technologies safety ecosystem targets the construction and light industrial market, complementing the heavier industrial focus of Blackline’s current G7 cloud-connected wearables and area gas monitoring offerings,” said Cody Slater, CEO and Chair of Blackline Safety. “While WTL is pre-revenue, their trajectory includes a strong customer pipeline with several at-scale opportunities that we will pursue as they enter the Blackline family. With our backing, together we will complete their commercialisation, delivering a compelling and highly differentiated connected safety offering to businesses in construction, warehousing, transportation, utilities, renewables and the service industry.”

Blackline estimates that the WTL acquisition accelerates its entry into commercial and light industrial markets with a tailored solution by more than two years. Included with the acquisition is a portfolio of over 40 patents that include protection around a line of washable smart safety garments with built-in wiring harness, the foundation for plug and-play sensors and LED lighting.

The WTL ecosystem is comprised of a smart safety garment that hosts an Eleksen worker-worn hub device with 4Gconnectivity. The Eleksen Hub wirelessly supports a range of sensor partnerships, including sound dosimetry, biometrics, ergonomics, vibration and vehicle proximity. Each wearable hub streams sensor data to the Eleksen cloud that powers data storage, alerting, geofencing, dashboards, data visualisations and trending.

Blackline plans to complete the commercialisation of the first Eleksen products and services through FY2021. The cost of the WTL acquisition is not material to Blackline and no purchase price is disclosed. WTL will operate as a wholly owned Blackline subsidiary.