Tech: Life360 hits milestone in user numbers, says aggressive growth strategy is paying off

Child-tracker app Life360 (ASX:360) says its high-growth strategy is starting to pay off.

The San Francisco-based tech play says active user numbers have cleared the 25-million mark for the first time, says the San Francisco-based tech play, which is sticking to its year-end target of 26m as flagged in the May prospectus.

Shares in 360 (the first ASX stock with an all-numerical ticker) got a tidy boost this morning, but are trading well-shy of their May 10 listing price.

Charting the course

Life360 attracted a fair bit of attention when it raised $145m from the local market back in May.

The company’s CHESS depository interests (CDIs) — a proxy for trading foreign shares — were priced at $4.79, for an implied market cap of $820m.

The IPO was viewed as a bit of a litmus test for US-based tech plays to attract Australian capital via an ASX listing.

The company had a successful debut, with the CDIs closing on day one at $5.31. But since then the company struggled for traction, as investors look for evidence that its high-growth strategy will turn a profit.

Downloadable for free, the Life360 service is a location-tracking app targeted mainly at families, as a way for parents to maintain round-the-clock knowledge of their children’s whereabouts.

The tracking service — which includes driver safety measures — also extends to teenagers, some of whom are agitating on Reddit that the software gives their parents a vehicle to be far too controlling, according to a weekend report from Yahoo News.

Life360’s half-year financials to June 30 showed that revenue doubled in the period to $US24.6m, but the cost of acquiring new active customers was also laid bare as underlying net losses increased to $US16.5m — around double the prior-year comparative period.

The company also announced two hires this morning, bringing in a new Chief Technology Officer and a Head of User Acquisition.

ALSO READ: Family tracking app Life360 debuts up 11pc

In other ASX tech news today:

Shares in Hong-Kong based FinTech Chain Ltd (ASX:FTC) jumped again after the company announced another deal with a China-based customer. FTC said it’s signed a contract with Gaoyang County Rural Credit Union Co, based in Heibei province, for the rollout of its T-linx payments service. After getting a speeding ticket from the ASX following a price-jump in late September, the stock price was up by another 13.79 per cent this morning.

And precision welding tech company K-TIG (ASX:KTG) signed its first Welding-as-a-Service (WaaS) client. KTG said US-based Precision Fabricators will pay a “license fee based on actual linear metres welded”. Following last week’s listing, shares in KTG fell by more than 10 per cent in morning trade.