Like most of the world, at the start of the new year we were preparing for some serious growth. Our goals were set high, and things were looking up.
We weren’t the only ones hitting the ground running. According to our anonymized data, gym access rates were up 50% in January 2020.
We were “all systems go” promoting our Touch to Unlock feature, which let users keep their phones in their pocket and just tap the reader to unlock the door.
Openpath excitedly announced participation in the ISC West Las Vegas event, set for March.
In February, Lincoln Property Company announced they would be standardizing on Openpath across their portfolio of over 403 million square feet of commercial real estate.
2020 was off to a great start.
Suddenly, everything we’d planned for changed. In-person events turned virtual, people didn’t want to touch anything, and working remotely and from home became a reality for most organizations, whether they were ready for it or not. It was clear that businesses needed to shift their thinking to promote safety and health in the workplace in order to keep operations on track. With new challenges in front of us, as remote work skyrocketed, Openpath innovation did too.
We rolled out the touchless Wave to Unlock feature almost overnight, helping businesses remove common touch points in key areas. Touchless technology was already becoming a nice-to-have trend in the workplace; the pandemic just accelerated the need.
With the shift to “work from home,” remote features like digital Guest Pass and remote unlock skyrocketed in popularity in order for businesses to keep their buildings secure and deal with changing needs on the fly. Openpath Guest Pass usage increased 85% over the course of 2020.
Working from home didn’t mean all communication stopped. Webinar formats reigned supreme for events and company meetings. Zoom surpassed 300 million users in April. Openpath hosted 8,850 Zoom meetings and webinars.
Some things were still business as (almost) usual for those in the essential workforce. With significant reductions in how many people could be in the office per social distancing guidelines, things moved slowly on many fronts. However, Openpath stayed the course in order to continue providing best-in-class access control products to help organizations keep their buildings secure—even when nobody was there.
May 27: Openpath introduced the Single Door Controller. Our compact, all-in-one access controller designed for small deployments launched—with a waitlist.
Next came our Premium software package, with features tailored to enterprise and multi-location security needs. Enhanced permissions, flexible Lockdown plans, a streamlined Rules Engine, and video management integrations helped larger organizations manage their security operations remotely, reducing headcount and increasing ROI.
Then, at the end of July, we released our Core Series Smart Hubs. This new hardware offering increased the scalability and flexibility of the Openpath system, with modular controller boards and extra inputs to accommodate more doors and sensors.
With no clear end in sight, it was time to make some lasting adjustments. The conversation shifted to understanding what was needed to get back to work safely, with a focus on the role technology could play in making that happen.
Openpath announced a new Safety & Wellness initiative, integrating with 15+ leading technology partners. Features included enforcing social distancing in the office, automating digital health questionnaires and temperature screenings, and deploying contact tracing efforts at work.
A timely Openpath + Allegion partnership offered a 100% touchless entry experience, utilizing Wave to Unlock and an integration with Allegion’s automatic door opener hardware.
Openpath secured $36M in a Series C funding round to accelerate product engineering, hardware and software development, and expand into new industry verticals. The new funding round, led by Greycroft with participation from Okta Ventures, LPC Ventures, Allegion Ventures and Sentre, including follow-on from existing investors, brought Openpath’s total funding to $63M to date.
Even with innovative safety solutions and huge strides in security technology, businesses struggled to find their hold. Knowing things had to change drastically from the traditional office settings we’d come to know, the office was reimagined. Organizations were looking to adaptable technology to facilitate remote access and management, flexible work schedules, social distancing, and occupancy tracking for safer, healthier workplaces that are also future-proofed.
An Openpath and CRETech poll showed reduced occupancy, touchless technology, and provided hand sanitizer are the top 3 requests in order for the workforce to feel safe re-entering the office.
While 2020 wasn’t the year we expected (and we certainly won’t miss), we want to end on a positive note and celebrate some highlights. The security industry saw a boom of innovative technology to help businesses secure empty offices, and get back to work safely. Openpath took the opportunity to do our part and address industry concerns to provide tangible physical security solutions, as well as strengthen our hardware lineup, develop new software features, and grow the team with top talent.
Introduced 9 new hardware products
The Core Series and Single Door Controller hardware received UL 294 compliance
Openpath won 5 awards in 2020, including an Edison Awards Gold Medal for our Flexible Lockdown solution, the iF Award for Design, Pandemic Tech Innovation Award, and dot.LA’s Rising Startup award.
Brought 31 new hires onto the Openpath team
API calls increased 100% to 200 million
Deployed globally in 19 new countries
637 new technicians trained and certified on Openpath in 2020
As we begin to look ahead to 2021, this year is proof that innovation and technology can breed resilience when faced with a challenge. At Openpath, our mission has always been to improve safety and security in the built environment, without compromising on the user experience. And while we’ve accomplished a lot this year, we couldn’t have made it without your support. We’ve got big plans for 2021, and we’re excited to keep moving forward together.
