access control photo credit: GettyGetty
Most startups can only dream of a beginning like Openpath‘s. Founded in 2016 by serial entrepreneurs Alex Kazerani, James Segil, Phil Goldsmith, Rob Peters, and Samy Kamkar, Openpath was privately funded until its product launched in summer 2018. The team weren’t planning to raise money, but were immediately inundated with term sheets and ultimately raised an eyewatering large round lead by Emergence later that summer. Oh, and they have sold out of their inventory three times since launch.
Openpath is a PropTech startup in the smart office space, specifically focusing on access control. There are many access control companies out there, so you will probably wonder (as I did) – what’s so special about them? It boils down to these three main things.
The team. Openpath’s co-founders are considered to be one of the leading entrepreneurial teams in “silicon beach” (LA’s tech startup scene). Kazerani (CEO) and Segil (President) co-founded EdgeCast Networks, which sold to Verizon for $400 million in 2013. They had both successfully founded and exited other startups prior to that. CTO Peters holds a Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems from Caltech and post-doctoral experience at the University of Southern California and was an early member of the technology team at EdgeCast Networks. CSO Kamkar has been one of the leading experts in cybersecurity since creating the MySpace worm in 2005 and is also a successful startup founder. Prior to Openpath, CRO Goldsmith helped build EdgeCast, creating the sales organization from the ground up and driving more than $100 million in annual sales. When a team like this gets together, investors and the market take note.
The tech. When we spoke, Segil said that “Access control is a commodity. It used to be the same for thermostats until Nest came around and made you care. Openpath is making people care about access control.” He told me that new Openpath customers are so excited about using their product that they post about it on social media and send the company cupcakes! What does Openpath do that is so exciting?
The service is deceptively simple. Employees in an Openpath-enabled building can securely unlock any door in the office using a smartphone that never leaves their pocket, as the system automatically authenticates a user’s smartphone as they near the door. There is no need to pull out your phone and open an app, which is a good thing as it takes up to 7 steps to unlock a door via an app, and many users prefer a key card to that.
Behind this easy to use interface, of course, sits a lot of work. Authentication works via triple unlocking technology (LTE, Bluetooth, and WiFi signals are used) to ensure that doors can be opened even where there is no cell service or there is a power outage. Openpath runs on cloud-based, open-source software that can integrate with legacy systems as well as with any business app the tenant enterprise uses to run its business. This can be anything from the HR and visitor management systems to building automation systems whereby smart buildings can be connected so, for example, the lights and AC are on only when there is a user in the space, and the tenant company can be billed accordingly. They make readers and control panels that can be installed with existing wiring and can support existing physical credentials since a small percentage (6% to be exact) of users prefer to continue using access cards. Their tech can also be used for garage access, elevators, turnstiles, you name it… and can be programmed for different levels of security at different times of the day.
Ultimately, Openpath is working to provide a tenant and occupier focused service. They have a strong emphasis on security in the physical workspace. They also provide large CRE landlords with a relatively inexpensive way to minimize their properties in order to upgrade their assets and compete with the co-working movement.
The market. Openpath has put itself at the cutting edge of a growing market – that of smart buildings. In a previous article, I already spoke about how 2019 is the year for “smart” technologies. These encompass the residential and commercial sectors as well as areas of the public domain, as I discussed in another article in my smart tech series.
I had the opportunity to take a first look at some smart offices research that Openpath recently commissioned. According to its findings, over 50% of over 1,100 respondents expect to be able to control smart devices in the workplace with their mobile phones in the next five years. A similar number of respondents would rather just carry their phone than have to carry a separate access badge. Further, when asked about their primary concerns with regards to office access control, the number one priority respondents gave was security.
This is interesting, considering that more than one-third of all employees have loaned out their access credential to someone else and nearly one in every three people do not feel safe at work. Nearly half of respondents misplace their credentials once a month, with a quarter doing so at least once a week!
“In order to provide employees with the workplace experience they want, we must tailor our solutions to address the issues they are facing on a daily basis,” said Alex Kazerani, Openpath’s co-founder and CEO. “Nearly 75 percent of respondents to our survey believe smart office technologies should be implemented to create a better work environment: Openpath’s smart access control technology enables employers to just that. Our products are designed to offer the ultimate security and convenience, eliminating the headaches and time wasters associated with lost or stolen key cards and forgotten pin codes. Instead, employees need only the smartphone in their pocket to unlock doors and easily move around the office.”
So, what is Openpath doing right? They are solving a real need in a growing market, for starters. In fact, the idea came about when the founders started having access control issues in their previous company! They have focused on one thing – access control – and iterated their solution several times until they honed it into to what their customers actually want, which is not to have to fish for anything in their pockets at all and to feel safe in their workplaces.