NavStar Secures $2.4 Million to Develop GPS Tracking, Hire Employees

Nascent electronic onboard recorder maker NavStar Technologies announced it has secured $2.4 million in funding from an unidentified investment group in Southern California.

The company, which also hopes to produce tracking devices for high-value cargo, said the funding proceeds will be used to invest in the final development of its GPS tracking and monitoring products and to also hire sales and marketing personnel.

NavStar said it expects to be selling products and services by March 2012.

“The investment from this group will allow us to start manufacturing products in the 1st quarter of 2012 and positions us for significant sales in 2012,” NavStar Chairman N. Douglas Pritt said in a statement. “Timing for this funding is ideal as several new GPS monitoring and tracking market segments are in their very early stages of development,” he said.

In his statement, Pritt noted that an expected Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration mandate for EOBRs to record a truck driver’s hours of service plays a major part in the company’s overall marketing and service strategy.