IVCA Private Equity Profiles

CellTrak Technologies, Inc.

Management:	Richard Herrmann, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Qu, President and Chief Operating Officer Andrew Kaboff, Founder and Executive Vice President of Sales

Venture Capital Partners:	MK Capital

Principal Offices:	Schaumburg, Ill.

Web site:	www.celltrakgps.com

CellTrak Technologies doesn't track human cells. But it does supply cell phones to humans -- specifically to the 1.8 million aides and nurses working in the U.S. and Canadian home care and hospice industry. Those with the CellTrak technology rely on the mobile devices with GPS capability every day to make their lives easier. With it, home-care paraprofessionals obtain their schedules, visit their patients, document their visits at the point of care, prove their visit compliance, collect time attendance, and handle myriad other responsibilities. In short, it improves communication, productivity and personnel safety while also eliminating loads of manual processing and relying on patients' landline phones to call in and out.

With the company's CellTraker™ interface, a caretaker's specific care data about a patient is sent to CellTrak's secure data services, creating a complete electronic visit record that matches the care plan. And the GPS monitoring accurately tracks the homecare staff's exact location and records the actual mileage for each visit.

CellTrak's management has a deep background in the healthcare field. Founder Andrew Kaboff co-developed and marketed a software system using a barcode scanner for the home healthcare market. And President and COO David Qu brings 16 years of business and 10 years of IT experience to acute care, Integrated Delivery Networks and other healthcare sectors.

A Snapshot of CellTrak Technologies, Inc.

Offers the 1.8 million U.S. homecare workers with the ability to handle their patient responsibilities by mobile phone.
Started in September 2006 with four employees and now employs 18.
Has developed partnerships with mobile phone carriers and companies supplying back-office and front-office services.

CellTrak’s History

In September 2006, CellTrak started operations as a very early-stage company whose product technology was still at the incubator stage although it had one large client. CellTrak’s four employees at the time, including two who were part-time, all worked from home. The company accelerated its product development and by September 2007, it offered a sound product to the marketplace. And it also developed strategic partnerships with four mobile phone carriers to handle the data transmitted between homecare workers and their employers and also with front-office and back-office companies with the software to handle scheduling, billing and management chores.

Since then, CellTrak has attracted more than 30 customers with a substantial pipeline of future work. The company uses a subscription fee model, receiving a monthly amount for each user.

CellTrak’s investor is MK Capital, a Chicago venture-capital firm that invests in companies at all stages of the funding lifecycle. Mark Koulogeorge, its managing general partner, has served on CellTrak’s board of directors since 2006. David Qu emphasizes that MK Capital and its partners have provided far more than the $4.5 million CellTrak has raised in its two rounds of funding. It has hooked up the company with mobile phone carriers and has helped it, specifically, with counsel on working in the Canadian market.

CellTrak has grown to 18 employees. And while the company’s growth has been pretty good, Qu says, it hasn’t met initial expectations set in 2006. “This is an emerging technology and it takes time for the market to accept,” he says. “This is not a sure thing yet, but we have surpassed the most risky first year. Qu likens CellTrak’s path to that of a rocket that has survived the first 20 seconds and is trying to go into orbit and follow its flight plan. “We must follow the plan we’ve defined and we must manage expectations,” he says.

What Illinois & Investors Provide CellTrak Technologies

Proximity to Motorola and mobile-phone carrier engineers
Strong universities
Excellent transportation facilities nearby, including O’Hare
Closeness to investor MK Capital and several of its partners who furnish counsel and contacts.

The IVCA Private Equity Profiles, a continuing series of portraits of Illinois venture capital and private equity investments, spotlights companies that are emerging or proven successes. Each account furnishes information about the company and the private equity firm or firms that invested in it, illuminating the important role they play in nurturing the companies.

IVCA is a non-profit trade association that serves the Midwest venture and buyout community. It focuses on expanding the size of the industry in Illinois and the Midwest by improving the local ecosystem for investors, entrepreneurs and limited partners. On behalf of its members, IVCA advocates pro-growth government policies, provides a virtual community, via www.illinoisVC.org, for deal flow and networking, and hosts educational and entrepreneurial events that offer networking opportunities for local investors, entrepreneurs, governmental stakeholders and tech-transfer groups.

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