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Nexkey’s 2020 Access Control Trends Review reveals the shift toward mobile access control and the importance of security post-COVID
Nexkey 7/28/20
Tech-Enabled Solution
Today, 98% of people have a smartphone, the most desired credential, yet only 5% use them to unlock the doors to their office. This may soon change as 44% said access control is now more important to them after the coronavirus pandemic. Nexkey , a leading innovator in cloud and mobile access control technology, today releases the 2020 Access Control Trends Review which reveals an increased importance on security for businesses after COVID-19 and the continued desire to adopt new access control technologies in mobile and cloud. Nexkey surveyed 1,264 office workers to see what’s currently happening and what will come next in the access control space. Interesting data highlights found in the survey include:
41% of office workers use key cards to enter their office. Yet the same amount of people said smartphones or smartwatches would be their first choice credential. 44% feel access control is more important after the COVID-19 pandemic. 3 out of 4 people use keys, key cards or fobs. 41% had these keys, key cards, and fobs lost or stolen while 34% let someone borrow them. 75% want additional doors on their access control platforms but don’t, 1 out of 4 people saying the biggest reason is cost. This year, there has been an abrupt shift to remote workplaces due to COVID-19. 44% feel that access control is more important after COVID-19. 67% prioritize security over convenience now when it comes to choosing an access control system. It is alarming to see how unsecure access control has become as keys are lost or lent out on a regular basis. 74% use key cards, fobs and metal keys – 41% lost or had them stolen while 34% admit to letting someone borrow them to enter their workplace. You’re less likely to let someone borrow a phone, and if your phone was lost or stolen, it is most likely protected with a pin or biometrics. Mobile access control also has the advantage of touchless entry which helps which reduces contact between employees. The vast majority of American office workers, 98%, have a smartphone. In today’s world, it is shocking to see someone without a smartphone. They are everywhere. According to an Inc article, Internet Trends ’ research shows that the average smartphone user unlocks their smartphone 150 times a day. Our phones are constantly in our hands. Yet, only 5% use a smartphone to unlock the doors to their workplace. Key cards are the most common access control credential seen in the field with 41% using a key card/badge as the main credential to unlock the building. People want to shift to mobile access control. Most respondents, at 41%, said mobile or smartwatch would be their first choice to unlock the door over key cards, fobs, pin code, or metal keys. 67% of office managers are interested or very interested in managing access to the building with their smartphones. The demand for mobile is there, yet it isn’t reflected in new technology that emerges in the industry. If mobile access control is gaining momentum as a desired and secure platform, why hasn’t it gone viral? Most smaller businesses are limited to only a few doors with access control. At businesses with 51-250 people, 84% of them have fewer than 4 doors with access control and the same number, 84% of them want to add additional doors to their platforms. One of the biggest reasons why people held back was cost. 75% of all respondents would only pay up to $1000 for an access control system, which is very rare in the industry due to the amount of hardware components and complex installation that is needed. Traditional access control that zeroes in on key card and fob technology remains incompatible with most doors, insecure, and expensive which leaves it out of reach for most small to medium sized businesses. “Players in the access control industry are severely underestimating the potential of the SMB market”, says Eric Trabold, CEO of Nexkey . “They are missing out on a $10B industry where their products just don’t make the cut.”
All signs point to mobile access control being the future of the access control industry. According to HID’s 2019 survey , a leader in access control, 54% have upgraded or will upgrade to mobile access control in the next three years. Not only is it the most desired, but the latest technology in mobile access control fits within the security and price points that are important to businesses today. Nexkey feels that its platform will be the catalyst for this shift to mobile. After COVID-19, access control systems will need to be more secure at a decent price point, and technology providers will have to shift to mobile to meet user’s needs. The smartphone will be our key throughout our day — from our home, to the office, gym, community center, school and even to the local laundromat. For Readers:

Nexkey’s 2020 Access Control Trends Review reveals the shift toward mobile access control and the importance of security post-COVID

Please introduce yourself and your startup Nexkey to our readers! My name is Eric Trabold and I am the CEO of Nexkey. At Nexkey we’re changing the way people experience access to physical space. How did you get the idea of Nexkey? We wanted to improve something through technology that hasn’t changed for decades and that everybody is doing daily. That’s how we got to wanting to change how we open doors and access spaces. For hundreds of years this process hasn’t changed as we had been using metal keys that you put in a keyhole and turn around for ages. We wanted to enable a better, more frictionless experience. It was natural to us to think about using the Smartphone, a device we all carry in our pocket, as an access credential. When we thought about traditional locks, we thought that every door has a mechanical lock and instead of replacing that with a Smartlock we thought that there must be a better way, so we came up with the idea of our Nexkey Core. The most versatile smart cylinder that can turn any lock into a Smartlock. What is the vision behind Nexkey? Our vision is to totally end physical keys. We believe that they’re not necessary in the future and that the smartphone is a much more secure and convenient access credential. How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome? The challenge we wanted to tackle needed a stellar technical team. We needed to develop software and hardware components to build out the most frictionless experience. Hardware is always capital intensive. Therefore, the Nexkey team needed to find investors that are willing to support the company. Who is your target audience? We’re currently focused on selling to Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs). We found this to be a very good target market as those want better access management but can’t afford traditional access control solutions. What is the USP of your startup? A very big advantage is the costs at which a Nexkey system can be deployed. Our platform costs only about 35% of a traditional system. In addition to that, we’re compatible with any type of door and lock which makes us attractive when people are looking for one cohesive solution for their whole office building. Can you describe your typical workday? We’re about 20 people right now so I have a lot of help in different parts of the business. Having said that, I am still wearing many different heads. I usually start my day by checking in with the sales team followed by a checking with our Dir. of Finance getting some operational topics out of the way. Then I am having video calls with investors, future hires or strategic partners. In the afternoon I often have 1-1 meetings with members of the staff or work on the latest marketing activities with our Marketing Team. I mostly end my day with another check in on the sales side to see how we did that day. Where do you see yourself and your startup Nexkey in five years? I see us doing mid seven digits in terms of revenue and having grown the team by at least 5x to support that size of a company. At that point half a million to a million of people will be using our platform (up from 20,000 as of today). Many people will know our brand and specifically in the SMB space we’ve become the household name for access control and management. What 3 tips would you give to founders? 1.) Get paying customers as fast as you can. Only those will give you real feedback on your platform, help you to improve it and accelerate you to finding market fit. 2.) You’re not scalable so hire the best people you can find for the key roles you need to grow. Hire people that tell you what to do and that you don’t need to tell what you do. 3.) Never raise too much capital. Not only does it prevent the team and you from getting diluted it also keeps you on your toes. Just raise enough to get to your next milestones. More information you will find  here
Thank you Eric Trabold for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Get paying customers as fast as you can

Nexkey , an end-to-end provider of mobile access control solutions, today announced that it has raised a $6 million Series A round led by  Upfront Ventures . Manu Kumar’s  K9 Ventures,   Mark IV Capital  and Anand Chandrasekaran, former Head of Platform for Messenger at Facebook also participated in the round. Nexkey’s secure, cloud-connected app turns any smartphone into a digital key, allowing businesses to do away with cumbersome keycards, fobs, and metal keys. Administrators can use the Nexkey app to send smart keys, manage when and how users can access a given space, and remotely unlock doors for guests. There are more than 300 million commercial doors in the United States and Nexkey is the only provider that is universally compatible. 
— Aditi Maliwal, Partner at Upfront Ventures
Nexkey also offers two unique hardware solutions that can turn any existing doorway into a fully functional smart door. The Nexkey Controller ties any electrified door, from commercial entrances to driveway gates, garage doors or elevators into the Nexkey ecosystem. The Nexkey Core, meanwhile, is a smart cylinder that can transform any existing mechanical lock into a smart lock in under two minutes. “There are more than 300 million commercial doors in the United States and Nexkey is the only provider that is universally compatible,” said Aditi Maliwal, partner at Upfront Ventures and former Google product manager, who is joining Nexkey’s board as part of this investment. “Today's access control solutions don't align with the modern workforce’s needs for flexibility and convenience, it's time for change and Nexkey is uniquely positioned to drive that change.”
Just six months after Nexkey’s launch, the company’s mobile access solutions are already revolutionizing the way more than 8,500 active users deal with the daily headaches of fumbling for their keys: the Nexkey app automatically recognizes and selects matching smart keys as individual users approach different doors. Users who do not have the Nexkey app can unlock doors via text messages with a unique code. Nexkey has dramatically increased our efficiency by making access to our space totally frictionless.
— Amir Mortazavi, CEO of Canopy
Nexkey’s offerings are proving especially useful for businesses such as coworking spaces, gyms, and real estate offices, which have a constant influx of new tenants, members, contractors, and other visitors. “Nexkey has dramatically increased our efficiency by making access to our space totally frictionless,” said Amir Mortazavi, CEO of Canopy, a San Francisco-based coworking spaces chain. “We took a close look at everything that’s on the market, and Nexkey came out on top. We got their solution installed throughout 32 private offices in under eight hours –– it was crazy fast.”
Businesses can track how their smart keys are being used in real time via the Nexkey App or Web Portal, delivering actionable intelligence and streamlining staffing and customer-service logistics. Nexkey’s customers can also integrate Nexkey’s API with their own apps and devices to create truly integrated and customized access experiences for their employees and customers. “The $8 billion access control market is ripe for disruption and our Series A round will help us become the new standard of access,'” says Eric Trabold, Nexkey’s CEO. “We make the installation process extremely easy, fast and affordable, so every business can take advantage of the numerous benefits that come with mobile keyless entry.”

Nexkey Raises $6M Series A Round, Opening the Door to Next-Generation Mobile Access Solutions

Nexkey raises $6M Series A round to make your company’s doors smarter
10.10.2019, 19:42,
Odnoklassniki
Nexkey , a company that provides a mobile access control solution for commercial buildings and workspaces, today announced that it has raised a $6 million Series A round led by Upfront Ventures . K9 Ventures, Mark IV Capital and Anand Chandrasekaran, the former Head of Platform for Messenger at Facebook, also participated in the round. Upfront also led Nexkey’s $4.8 million seed round. The company can turn your smartphone into your door key and replaces the badge you probably use at work to get in and out of buildings. Nexkey offers an end-to-end solution that includes the app, as well as hardware controllers and lock cylinders for your doors that can replace  There is also an API to allow its solutions to connect to other applications and devices inside a workspace. In many ways, Nexkey is similar to Openpath , which raised $7 million in a seed round that was also led by Upfront Ventures . “We launched our platform into the market a little over 9 months ago and brought over 8,500 active users on the platform the first 6 months after launch,” Nexkey CEO Eric Trabold told me. “We wanted to continue this great momentum and therefore felt that the time is right to raise more capital to enable us to do so.”
Trabold says the company will use the new funding to expand its overall sales efforts from its current focus on California to the rest of the United States. He noted that the company wanted to better understand its users’ needs before expanding to other geographies. The company also realized that it sat on a lot of data that was valuable to its customers. “We currently expose this via an audit trail right in our App and are going to build out other, more visual ways to expose this data to our customers,” Trabold said. “We’re going to have advanced reports that can be accessed or downloaded through our Web Portal. Those will help our customers to optimize how they operate their spaces, which means that they can now properly staff during peak times, analyze overall space utilization or look for anomalies that can trigger security events.”
The new funding, the company says, will also allow it to apply more resources to help it provide more value to its users based on this data. Among the other things it learned from its early customers is that many of its users don’t always want to have their doors locked at all times and instead often want to keep them open for anybody during business hours. The company’s users that run co-working spaces and gyms also asked the company for an easier onboarding process and the ability to apply access rules to different user types, something it is currently beta testing in its iOS app. See also:
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Nexkey raises $6M Series A round to make your company’s doors smarter

Avegant

NortonLifeLock

Nero

Silver Spring Networks

Wink Communications

GeoWorks

Bain & Company

Smart Home & Consumer Electronics

Internet of Things ( IoT )

Unattributed VC

Nexkey is a mobile-first, cloud-based access control solutions provider. Its platform enables smart entry to any door, which allows businesses to manage access with a mobile app or web portal.

Name	Work History	Title	Status
Eric Trabold	Avegant, NortonLifeLock, and Nero	Chief Executive Officer	Current
Gary Hammer	Silver Spring Networks, Wink Communications, GeoWorks, and Bain & Company	Founder, Chief Executive Officer	Former

Name	Eric Trabold	Gary Hammer
Work History	Avegant, NortonLifeLock, and Nero	Silver Spring Networks, Wink Communications, GeoWorks, and Bain & Company
Title	Chief Executive Officer	Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Status	Current	Former

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