INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
We need to go hands-off in the age of coronavirus
That means touching fewer doors, elevators, and sign-in iPads
personalize conference rooms and video call set-ups
Proxy co-founder and CEO Denis Mars tells me
and security risks of people rubbing dirty, cloneable, stealable key cards against their office doors, investors see big potential in Proxy
Combinator plus new additions Silicon Valley Bank and West Ventures.The raise brings Proxy to $58.8 million in funding so it can staff up
at offices across the world and speed up deployments of its door sensor hardware and access control software
dashboard.Employees can then open doors, elevators, turnstiles, and garages with a Bluetooth low-energy signal without having to even take
Bosses can also opt to require a facial scan or fingerprint or a wave of the phone near the sensor
Proxy costs about $300 to $350 per reader, plus installation and a $30 per month per reader subscription to its management software.Now the
Wifi router-makers are starting to pre-provision their hardware to automatically connect the phones of employees or temporarily allow
Its new Nano sensors can also be hooked up to printers and vending machines to verify access or charge expense accounts
And food delivery companies can add the Proxy SDK so couriers can be granted the momentary ability to open doors when they arrive with
lunch.Rather than just indiscriminately beaming your identity out into the world, Proxy uses tokenized credentials so only its sensors know
fans of facial recognition
Internet Of Things devices was actually the impetus for starting Proxy
Mars was frustrated about every IoT lightbulb and appliance wanting him to download an app, set up a profile, and give it his data.The duo
founded Proxy in 2016 as a universal identity signal
Today it has over 60 customers
A bug or outage could potentially lock employees out of their workplace (when they eventually return from quarantine)
It will have to keep hackers out of employee files
Proxy needs to stay ahead of access control incumbents like ADT and HID as well as smaller direct competitors like $10 million-funded Nexkey
and $28 million-funded Openpath.Luckily, Proxy has found a powerful growth flywheel
Other tenants in the building start to use it, so they buy Proxy for their office
