Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • August 22, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com Growing Hartford startup lands Sacred Heart deal H a r t f o r d ' s Wearsafe Labs, which began selling its mobile app-enabled panic button late last year and soon drew a more than $2 million funding round, has hit its next milestone. Under a recently inked deal with Fairfield's Sacred Heart University, all 1,350 freshmen will receive a free Wearsafe button, the company told the Hartford Busi - ness Journal. The button or "tag" — typically sold as part of a $5-per- month subscription service — is a discrete way for a user to alert a customized network of friends and family that he or she may be in danger, transmitting location data and audio that network members can use to decide whether a call to police is warranted. Wearsafe has put an emphasis on mar- keting the product to college-aged women and their parents. Sacred Heart, whose stu- dents are more than 60 percent female, is Wearsafe's first major institutional customer. "The safety of our students is always our top priority, and we see this tool as provid- ing another layer of protection for them as well as a way to alleviate some of their par- ents' concerns," Larry Wielk, Sacred Heart's dean of students, said. Sacred Heart, which has 4,800 total stu- dents, said it will also offer Wearsafe for pur- chase to its upperclassmen. David Benoit and Phill Giancarlo, Wearsafe's co-founders, said they didn't anticipate schools or corporations to be early adopters of the company's technology. But the Sacred Heart deal, an ongoing pilot with a major pharmacy chain (the name of which they wouldn't disclose), as well as a pending deal later this year with the American School for the Deaf, have proven their assumptions wrong. Meanwhile, Wearsafe, which reports "sev- eral thousand users" so far, has been hiring. Its 1429 Park St. office now houses 19 employees, and Benoit and Giancarlo hope to get to 25 by the end of the year. They're seeking technical talent, like web and app developers, as well as marketers, as they plan an advertising ramp-up later this year. So far, they've been able to locate the tech talent they need in Connecticut. "Our goal is to stay in this area. We love it here," Giancarlo said. The hiring and marketing has been funded by a $2 million round disclosed in January, and Wearsafe is already working on its next round. Earlier this month, it filed a notice with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commis- sion disclosing that it had raised another $710,000 in equity capital out of what it hopes will eventually be $5 million. Benoit and Giancarlo said the latest round involves some new undisclosed investors. They're also spending money on their manufacturing operations. The company wants to potentially contract manufactur- ing of its hardware to more than one compa- ny, and have the option to scale up to many more units in the future. "It's important to forecast accurately and hedge our supply chain and manage any long lead time components that are ultimately incorporated into the device," Benoit said. Lastly, Wearsafe is beta testing a new capability that will allow users' friends and family network to permit a 911 dispatcher to see and hear all the information they are receiving. Wearsafe hopes to roll out that service — which it says would be free for both subscribers and police — in October. – Matt Pilon State House Square resets loan maturity Owners of downtown Hartford's State House Square office building have been granted a three-year repayment extension and a lower interest rate. New York City commercial-loan tracker Trepp LLC reported last week that owner- landlords FBE-State Square LLC and MAC- State Square LLC had finalized their previously reported efforts begun last April at modifying their original $86.5 million mortgage obtained in 2007 to acquire the office complex at 10-90 State House Square. The owners could not be reached for comment. According to Trepp's report, the loan, originally set to mature next February, has been reset to be paid off on or by Feb. 10, 2020. The previous maturity was Feb. 6, 2017. Also, the interest rate is now 4 percent, down from the original 6.195 percent; Wall Street investment banker-advisor Goldman Sachs originated the loan, Trepp papers show. Nothing in Trepp's report indicates any changes to Travelers Insurance's previ- ously disclosed plans to occupy less space in the building across from Constitution Plaza sometime in 2017. – Gregory Seay REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK W hittlesey & Hadley accountants are different. 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It's the up-to-date information you need to do better business! Get local breaking business news daily! Sign up today at HartfordBusiness.com: Click on the 'subscribe' button HBJToday and Wearsafe's "tags" can communicate through a smartphone from up to 200 feet. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

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