Founded in 1999 and based in Louisville, Kentucky, Telemics is a technology company that remotely monitors and controls streetlights with its Verics(R) wireless network. A device called checkpoint is placed on each streetlight and gathers information about that light. A second device, called an access point, then collects information from several checkpoints and relays the data via the Internet to a central network. Clients can visit a secure website to detect whether a streetlight is burnt out, turn lights on and off, track the number of hours the light burns, and generate customized reports. Its primary customer base is local utilities, city and state agencies and departments of transportation that operate and maintain streetlights. Their largest customer is the city of Los Angeles.

A privately-held venture-backed corporation, after signing a $5.5 million contract with the city of Los Angeles, Telemics and its investors began talks with other major cities. They also began eyeing international markets where consumers are particularly conscientious of environmental issues and energy conservation.

In order to move forward in the global market, the Company realized they would need to find a strategic parter that could convert and modify the hardware to meet European technical standards.

TripleTree’s approach to assisting small companies in developing a future growth and capital strategy leverages multiple perspectives:  deep financial experience, hands-on operating backgrounds, executive leadership under diverse ownership structures, and leading industry expertise.  Given Telemics' track record and strong recognition momentum, TripleTree believed finding a strategic partner in an acquisition would maximize the the Company's aspirations. 

TripleTree worked with Telemics' management and investors to execute a sale process that addressed a number of key components:

• The Telemics target market is large enough to support substantial growth;
• The Telemics end-to-end solution was right for the market, unique, and would allow the Company to scale as demand continues to evolve;
• The Telemics technology solution is proven and tested
• Telemics' experience in marketing, deploying, and supporting monitoring-enable street lighting assets is unsurpassed in the industry;
• Customers understand the benefits of Telemics' solution and accept its technology;
• The Telemics' business model generates a strong recurring revenue stream and creates high switching costs thereby enable a strong barrier to competition; and
• The Telemics technological solution has transformed awareness and acceptance into real demand.

In a competitive process of identifying the proper partner, TripleTree successfully negotiated the sale of Telemics to industry electronics giant Tyco Electronics, a subsidiary of Tyco International Ltd (NYSE: TYC). Telemics will become an integral part of Tyco's Global Lighting Business Office, which has a portfolio of lighting products including photocells for street lights, fuse/disconnects used in European lighting poles and a power line carrier based remote monitoring and control system for street lights. The Tyco Electronics division operates major manufacturing facilities in Germany, China, Canada, Thailand and Fuquary-Varina, N.C. Tyco International, based in Bermuda, posted $12.2 billion in revenue last year from 54 countries.

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