Cartrack began in South Africa by finding stolen cars. Its trackers sat in vehicles, and when one went missing, a recovery team went after it. Over two decades those trackers became a data business. Fleets used Cartrack's software to watch fuel, drivers, and routes in real time. When its parent, Karooooo, listed on Nasdaq in April 2021, Cartrack served more than 1.3 million subscribers in 23 countries.

Stolen Vehicle Recovery

Zak Calisto founded Cartrack in South Africa in 2001 and has run it ever since. Before that, he worked in vehicle tracking services. The trackers fed a constant stream of location data. Calisto's bet was that the data was worth more than the recovery. Cartrack built its own devices and software and sold subscriptions to businesses and drivers. It ran its own design, software, sales, and customer service teams instead of relying on outside vendors.

A Small Float, a Big Owner

Karooooo sold 1,050,000 shares at $28 each in April 2021 and listed on Nasdaq as KARO. The company had moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. Cartrack left the Johannesburg exchange, and Karooooo took a secondary listing there as KRO. The offering was small, about $29 million, for a company with more than a million subscribers. After the IPO, Calisto held about 66 percent of the voting power. Karooooo still trades on Nasdaq as KARO.

Cover: The Stagecoach Holdup, Bartolomeo Pinelli. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a stagecoach holdup (stolen vehicle recovery).