Esch-Funded IIoT Startup Strikes Gold

There are a lot of reasons why Peytec Inc. was named a 2019 top ten IoT company to watch by the Ontario Government. It delivers innovative Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions. It offers proprietary Wireless Positioning and Sensing Network (WSPN) products. Its integrated sensor tags provide real-time analytics and reports for goods on the move. And its wide-ranging applicability attracts clients as diverse as Toyota Canada and Sheridan Nurseries.

Peytec’s strength – and primary reason for $300,000+ revenue in 2019 – is its state-of-the-art product line: simple tags that provide transaction tracking; smart tags that combine location and transaction data; and super tags that convey information about temperature, humidity, vibration, colour, air quality, light level, radiation and pressure for sensitive goods. 

"The Esch Foundation is genuinely dedicated to exploration and the development of young businesses with something to offer our country – and it built the foundation of this company.”

In addition, Peytec has recently begun offering an entirely new product for its latest client, mining operation Kirkland Lake Gold located in Timmins, Ontario.

“KLG approached us after attending one of our presentations,” says CEO Peyman Moeini. “They had a problem to solve and wondered if we could do it, so we began a pilot project together. We have now sold them over a thousand Muck Pucks, earning about $250,000 in revenue so far, with more product shipping every quarter through our subscription service.”

Muck Pucks are tags used to track the two categories of material that KLG pulls from the ground: ore, from which gold is extracted, and waste. The problem is that both materials look like “muck,” so they need to be carefully tagged to avoid confusion and end up on the wrong truck for processing or disposal. KLG had been using RFID tags to identify the two materials, but that technology only offers about 60% reliability when buried. In contrast, Peytec’s WSPN tags have 99% reliability even beneath 20 tons of muck. This makes it possible to use only a single tag per load, whereas KLG needed 10 RFID tags to ensure that at least one would scan from somewhere in the pile.

With the KLG contract well underway, Moeini and his team are planning to launch Muck Pucks as a new brand with a dedicated website in January 2020, aimed specifically at the mining industry.

“Our partnership with Westburne, one of the world’s largest electronics distributors, makes it possible for us to scale up as Muck Pucks takes off and sales of Peytec’s other products continue to grow. For example, we have a new contract with Cisco Systems. We’re excited to see where that takes us.”

With $1.5 million in capital raised to date, five full-time employees, an additional five contractual employees, and the imminent launch of Muck Pucks, Peytec has been on a growth trajectory since its founding in 2011. Stage 2 and Stage 3 Esch Awards have been crucial to that evolution.

“Esch money was unlike any other early-stage funding we received,” says Moeini. “It was the only investment in Peytec that wasn’t tied to some person or group who wanted influence in return. Its power and significance is that it’s unbiased and purely educational. Once you earn it, no-one tries to profit from you or gain an advantage over you. The Esch Foundation is genuinely dedicated to exploration and the development of young businesses with something to offer our country – and it built the foundation of this company.”