iLobby Rakes In $100M To Help Track Visitors

iLobby has received a $100 million strategic investment from Insight Partners to help scale its go-to-market strategy and expand its visitor management offerings.

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The new investment is the first private raise for the Toronto-based company, which has been growing 100 percent year to year for the last several years and is profitable, said CEO Ariel Mashiyev.

“We wanted an investor who could help us scale,” Mashiyev said. “We are doing amazing at what we do, and we wanted investors that are good at helping companies grow.”

COVID-19 increases demand

iLobby’s software helps enterprise companies track, manage and monitor visitors, contractors, employees and others in their facilities, replacing more traditional pen and paper log methods, said Mashiyev. The iLobby Visitor Management System is used in buildings such as banks, airports, government buildings and other facilities, he added.

While it may be logical to conclude sales of such platforms could have hit a lull during a pandemic where many were not entertaining buildings, Mashiyev said iLobby instead has seen an increased demand as COVID-19 has changed the way companies think about their workspaces.

Companies now need to know more than ever who and when someone is in a facility, Mashiyev said. In an effort to address customer needs, the company introduced a new COVID-focused pre-screening questionnaire, as well as a touchless sign-in solution and fever testing. Mashiyev said in the future, questionnaires could be tweaked to ask if someone entering a building has been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“iLobby can be part of the return to work solution,” said Ryan Hinkle, managing director at Insight.

A big opportunity

Mashiyev estimates the U.S. market alone is $8.7 billion. While there are competitors such as San Francisco-based Envoy and Canada-based Traction Guest, Mashiyev said much of the market is greenfield. iLobby, he said, differentiates itself by focusing much of its efforts on the enterprise market as well as more regulated verticals.

iLobby was spun out of an unnamed parent company in 2017 and now serves more than 1,000 clients, including Pepsi, Nikon and Hershey’s.

Similar to airport entry points, the need for easy and compliant entry — which meets privacy and security requirements — to office buildings is only growing, as is the market opportunity, said Hinkle.

“We want to be what CLEAR is to airports,” Hinkle said.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias.