This Startup Making Cloud-Connected Security Camera Systems Reached A $540 Million Valuation In 3 Years
Summary
Founded in 2016, Verkada has been selling products only for the past two years but has built a roster of customers including school systems, gyms, municipalities and corporations like Citrix and healthcare providers, CEO Filip Kaliszan says. Each stores footage locally, functioning like its own digital video recorder, and is encrypted at rest, meaning that it doesnt lose its feed when the internet cuts out and wont cough up its info if someone steals a unit. Syncing up with Robertson, a cofounder of networking company Meraki (acquired by Cisco in 2012 for $1.2 billion), the two decided they had the software and hardware chops to build a modern, cloud-based system in a category ripe for new tech. Since its trial at its Beverly Hills club a year and a half ago, Equinox installed Verkada in five gyms and plans to gradually replace all its cameras nationally with the product. In the future, Verkada could do more with its visual recognition software to detect threats as they develop or provide and deny access to employees who try to enter certain areas, says Konstantine Buhler, the Meritech investor who is joining its board as an observer.