Part I: WeWork + Waltz = Validation
The Commercial Real Estate (CRE) sector has one more reason to care about Access Control — WeWork, who has been a growth catalyst and sometimes thorn in the side of many CRE players has validated the importance of Access Control Technology with their acquisition of Waltz this week. Waltz is an access control company that sells systems to large buildings — selling a visitor management and building access system into skyscraper property owners basically. Their system leverages mobile and aims to bring a better “Flow” to the experience of entering a skyscraper; both an employee and/or a visitor can get through front desk security faster by leveraging their mobile credential which integrates with visitor management, turnstiles, elevators and office doors. Waltz is a relatively new company, with a small team spread between NY and Canada and have been laser focused on figuring out how to help big building owners safely move people in and out of their buildings with ease. So now, WeWork, the giant in the co-working space, has acquired them. Here is why I love this:
- WeWork is building out a technology team across many disciplines to sell in tech to their tenants. This evolution of offering more to tenants than just office space is a critical leap forward for the CRE market. Landlords have always held the keys to the castle (forgive the pun) yet have only sold office space to their customers. WeWork is proving that there is a bigger basket of services that can be sold to that same buyer, and those services include technology to improve the workplace experience
- Access Control Matters — this is one of the most critical and overlooked components of the technology stack that landlords can control. Everyone needs to unlock their door — it’s a universal need. Giving workers a key that works on their mobile phone, is unlocking a very valuable new piece of real estate that landlords overlook — that’s the “real estate” on everyone’s mobile phone. Having your app on every building occupant’s phone is of tremendous value and providing a useful app that workers use every single day to access their office buildings is real value that every one of us can understand. Once you lock in that real estate, imagine what else you can do…
So congrats to the team at Waltz on joining forces with WeWork and kudos to WeWork for validating the importance of Access Control. This acquisition is yet another signal for the CRE community and for Landlords of all sizes to invest in next generation Access Control technology as its the gateway to bigger and better things for a more engaged, sticky and valuable tenant experience. We here at Openpath are dedicated to that vision and are obsessed with making it more convenient and secure to access your workplace. For more thoughts on what the WeWork + Waltz deal means, tune in to Part II later this week…
James Segil is President & Co-founder of Openpath. On a mission to improve workplace efficiency and security, Openpath creates smart, secure access control systems for the modern office & building. The company’s flagship product, Openpath Access, combines sleek hardware with an app, enabling employees to enter the office using their smartphones and making office management easier than ever. With encryption at every level and powerful user-level permissions, Openpath Access is both more secure and more dynamic than legacy systems. Founded in 2016, Openpath is based in Los Angeles’ Silicon Beach and has raised $27 million to-date from Emergence Capital, Sorenson Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Fika Ventures. To learn more, visit www.openpath.com.
