IoT solutions company raisescleaning standards
https://stockhouse.com/opinion/interviews/2024/02/14/iot-solutions-company-raises-cleaning-standards
The following is a transcription of the abovevideo, and The Market Online Canada has edited it for clarity.
Our next company is Visionstate Corp. (TSXV:VIS),headquartered in Edmonton. The company is focused on delivering data-driven,innovative and sustainable IoT (internet of things) solutions.
We sat down with CEO John Putters, who recentlyspoke about the company and its recent projects.
TMO: For our listeners who may not be aware, canyou provide a brief overview of Visionstate?
Putters: Absolutely, Visionstate is a publiclytraded company on the TSX Venture Exchange, under the symbol VIS. Its corebusiness is technology focused on IoT solutions in the facility managementspace. The company’s software tracks cleaning and maintenance activities inlarge facilities providing in-depth analytics and AI insights.
The company’s main product is branded as WANDA™️,and it’s actually the first line of defense in fighting infection by providingand ensuring a better cleaning environment.
TMO: Tell our audience about the company’s WANDA™️technology and how it’s different than the competition.
Putters: The technology is fairly straightforward,and you know, some of the best advantages are like that.
The technology uses a mobile app with QR codes. QRcodes are installed in facilities, its strategic locations and kitchens,hallways, that sort of thing. And the staff use those codes to scan with theirphone, which timestamps their presence at that location, gives them a list ofactivities, what we call cleaning protocols.
In conjunction with this, we all also havesensors, for example people-counting sensors. And that data is also fed intoour analytics. Once the cleaning staff completes a cleaning activity in a room,this information is submitted, and it goes into a database which providesactionable insights to the facility.
I think our main competitive advantage outsideinnovation, because I know a lot of companies say, well, we’re innovative, thatmakes us different, is really the fact that we have a global partner. And whatthis means is that, first of all, they’re focused in this area specifically incleaning and hygiene, but it provides us access to a global market throughtheir sales force.
And so as a consequence of this we are growingvery quickly, and we believe that market share will be a significant factor inour ongoing competitive advantage.
TMO: What’s the approximate market size for theWANDA™️ technology?
Putters: Well, actually the market size isenormous, it’s in the hundreds of millions, literally. The reason being is thatit really includes any type of facility in the world, you know, includingoffice buildings, school divisions, airports, hospitals, universities,hospitality sector, shopping centres, and many others.
And, basically, Wanda™️ is designed to trackprotocols to ensure cleaning standards are met. This is an issue in basicallyevery large facility, no matter what type of facility it is. So, the market forus is extremely, extremely large.
TMO: Moving on to growth, what contributed to thecompany’s growth over the past year?
Putters: Well, specifically, I mentioned that wedo have a global partner that is passionate about IoT solutions. We re-signedour agreement with our global partner just recently, in October 2023.
Part of that is an annual retainer that they payus on exclusive rights to distribute the product in Canada. And that doubled inthat contract, but it also expanded the reach to Europe and the U.K., and we’realready doing projects in those markets. So, our business has acceleratedsignificantly as a result of that contract. The partner we have doesn’t have apresence in the U.S. yet, so we’re also doing direct sales into the U.S.
We have a very large customer there calledBlackstone Real Estate. It’s one of the largest private equity real estatecompanies in the world. And you would see WANDA™️ in their Class A buildings inManhattan. They continue to expand as well. The company’s actually growing at aphenomenal pace. And our focus is actually on customer acquisition because weare a residual company or software as a service, as many know it as.
TMO: From a broader outlook, what does the companyhave planned for 2024?
Putters: We have several focuses for 2024 inCanada. The company is going to maximize its distribution agreement with itsglobal partner by continuing to install in large facilities. And of late, we’vebeen doing a lot of universities and, and part of the reason for that is, youknow, the university wants to provide a clean, safe environment for students.
And this is one way of doing that and proving it.We’re going to maximize our opportunities in the U.S. in the meantime. We’redoing direct sales into the U.S., leveraging our existing customer base, butwe’re also doing lead generation advertising and that sort of thing.
So, there’s a real focus on that, which alignswith our broader IoT solutions focus. Then, because of the new agreement,there’s this whole new market with Europe and the U.K. We’re putting in theinfrastructure to grow that. But we’ve also got some ongoing installations thatwe’re working on right now, including (the) Uber head office in London, England.
So, they’re exciting projects and we’re startingto get a foothold there. We see 2024 is very exciting and a real growth yearfor the company.
