New Funding Will Accelerate Growth, Innovation, and Adoption of AnyVision’s Recognition AI Platform to Protect People and Places
AnyVision, the world’s leading Recognition AI company, today announced it has secured an investment of $235 million from SoftBank Vision Fund 2i and Eldridge with further participation from existing investors. The infusion is one of the largest funding rounds in the visual intelligence space in Western markets, underscoring the growing importance of AI, machine learning, and biometrics in transforming physical and perimeter security. As part of the transaction, Amit Lubovsky, Director for SoftBank Investment Advisers, will join AnyVision’s Board of Directors.
Proceeds from the round will accelerate AnyVision’s product innovation in edge computing and Access Point AI used to optimize touchless access control, video surveillance, and watchlist alerting. This same platform will drive operational insights including occupancy analytics, people counting, and dwell times as well as flag potentially dangerous behavior.
Today’s threats are often a result of hybrid attacks targeting both physical and cyber assets. Historically, physical security has been an afterthought when it comes to information security and often lacked the power of modern technologies. Unfortunately, an enterprise’s cybersecurity measures can be rendered useless if a bad actor can physically access their network.
At the same time, physical security systems often collect, record, and process large amounts of personal data, some of which may be very critical and sensitive. AnyVision is pioneering new data privacy measures that not only comply with privacy regulations, but also equip enterprise customers with necessary tools to address their evolving privacy needs, including bystander blurring, dynamic data retention times, and limits to the storing of data for individuals not listed within an organization’s watchlist.
Consequently, organizations are realizing that cyber and physical assets can be targeted, separately or simultaneously, and compromised resulting in financial and data loss. AnyVision’s Access Point AI platform leverages state-of-the-art technologies to help protect an organization’s physical access points by identifying authorized personnel and persons of interest in real-time — whether VIPs or bad actors — and layering in additional operational insights to streamline the customer experience.
“AnyVision’s innovations in Recognition AI helped transform passive cameras into proactive security systems and empowered organizations take a more holistic view to advanced security threats,” said AnyVision’s CEO Avi Golan. “The Access Point AI platform is designed to protect people, places, and privacy while simultaneously reducing costs, power, bandwidth, and operational complexity.”
To increase its market reach, AnyVision has forged strategic relationships with several key partners in this space including Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Boon Edam, Ambarella, and Nvidia as well as a number of key regional system integrators. In terms of technology validation, AnyVision achieved top rankings across all five categories in the 1:1 verification in the Face Recognition Vendor Test conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The company was also named as one of the Top 10 Facial Recognition Companies to Look For in 2021 by Analytics Insights.
Anthony Doeh, Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, noted: “The visual recognition market is nascent but has large potential in the Western world. We have witnessed the transformative power of AI, biometrics and edge computing in other categories, and believe AnyVision is uniquely placed to redefine physical environment analytics across numerous industries.”
With this new funding, AnyVision will continue to push the boundaries of its technology by integrating SDKs and software onto edge-devices (e.g., smart cameras, bodycams, and even chips) to deliver superior video analytics in terms of speed, security, affordability, flexibility, and versatility. Additionally, the company will use the funding to expand into new markets and fuel its growing channel program. AnyVision’s biometric technologies currently serve leading blue-chip organizations across financial services, gaming, stadiums, education, critical infrastructure, healthcare, and manufacturing/distribution verticals.
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