With the rise of flexible workspaces, companies are increasingly turning to smartphone-based authentication to allow employees to enter and exit. In a recent survey, almost two out of five companies stated that they are permitting their staff to use their phones for access into office buildings.
This trend has been particularly beneficial for companies like SwiftConnect, a platform that specializes in managing access to physical offices. Founded in 2020 by Chip Kruger and Matt Kopel after selling their previous company, Waltz, to WeWork in 2019, SwiftConnect has seen significant growth in the market.
Kopel came up with the idea for SwiftConnect while working briefly at WeWork post the Waltz acquisition. He believed that the on-demand, mobile-centric access control that WeWork was seeking would become the norm for many offices in the future.
SwiftConnect’s platform simplifies access management for office spaces. With the service, employees can add their employee badge to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet on their smartphones, granting them access to their building and shared amenity spaces secured by NFC door locks. Administrators can issue credentials from a dashboard to ensure employees can only enter approved rooms.
SwiftConnect is among various companies offering mobile-centric access control management platforms, including Openpath, Kisi, and Verkada. However, Kruger highlights that SwiftConnect stands out by not requiring companies to install new reader hardware, a factor that has attracted clients like Silverstein Properties, which owns 7 World Trade Center in New York City.
The company states that its system is currently operational in over 100 million square feet of office space. Earlier, SwiftConnect expressed confidence in not needing additional capital unless strategic opportunities arose. Nevertheless, the company recently secured $37 million in a Series B round led by Quadri Ventures, with contributors like HID, Egis Capital Partners, Klingenstein Fields Advisors, Crow Holdings, JLL Spark, Navitas Capital, and Spring Rock Capital.
This funding brings the startup’s total raised capital to $74 million, which will be used to expand the team of 135 employees and venture into new locations. SwiftConnect currently has offices in Montreal and Stamford and is considering strategic acquisitions, with the recent purchase of Detrios, an access control firm.
As SwiftConnect continues to grow, challenges such as potential disruptions from smartphone failures and privacy concerns may arise. Some organizations, including PwC, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs, are already using badges to track employee locations, raising questions about privacy. SwiftConnect emphasizes its commitment to privacy by design, ensuring that customers have full control over the user data processed on their behalf.
In a landscape where 62% of organizations plan to track attendance through badge swipes, SwiftConnect must demonstrate that it can provide convenience without compromising privacy. As Kruger puts it, “Our platform is built on a privacy-by-design principle, focusing on collecting the minimum necessary user information to operate the service.”
