SwiftConnect, a platform for connected office access, announced on Wednesday the acquisition of HID SAFE, a leading company in the field of building access management. This takeover will expand SwiftConnect's physical access platform, based in Stamford, Connecticut, with HID SAFE's identity management capabilities, as explained by Matt Kopel, co-CEO of SwiftConnect. Kopel declined to disclose the financial and equity-related terms of the transaction.
The transaction builds on HID's previous involvement in SwiftConnect's Series B funding round. As a result of the acquisition, HID SAFE will hold a minority stake in SwiftConnect, without controlling rights. SwiftConnect will remain an independent company, continuing to be controlled and managed by its existing leadership team, including co-CEO Chip Kruger.
Kopel emphasised that the acquisition of HID SAFE was based on customer feedback: "What we have built so far with our connected network is well-received by customers. However, one of the most common customer requests relates to an overarching layer of governance. We help prospective customers, from enterprises to landlords, transfer identities and credentials from one system to another. Customers wanted an expansion of our capabilities to include this governance and to determine where an identity should go and where access should be granted based on certain attributes or permissions."
Integration has already begun, as both companies serve large, globally operating businesses. Björn Lidefelt, Executive Vice President and Head of HID SAFE, commented on the acquisition: "HID SAFE has earned the trust of the world's most security-conscious organisations over two decades. Outstanding technology deserves the space to realise its full potential, and SwiftConnect is the right partner for that." Although the HID name will disappear, the SAFE brand will remain on the platform for now. Long-term retention will be evaluated in the coming months, Kopel stated.
Shane Butler, Executive Vice President of Identity at SwiftConnect, recently joined the company to lead the SAFE business. He stated in a release: "This acquisition accelerates the modernisation of SAFE by delivering it over our connected access network, allowing organisations to manage physical and digital access through the same governance, risk, and compliance lens. This is the moment when these two worlds finally speak the same language, and being part of this industry change is precisely why I joined SwiftConnect."
The acquisition of HID SAFE was, according to Kopel, a logical extension of SwiftConnect's original mission. He explained: "We were created to manage the lifecycle of identities and permissions wherever an employee needs to go, and to provide that employee effortless access wherever they are authorised. Whether that is at their own company's locations, the landlords from whom your company leases, or a visitor at another site. Our job is essentially to unify identity management and make access to permitted areas seamless. SAFE will help expand our network."
In early July, SwiftConnect had already announced the expansion of its network through a partnership with the real estate technology platform VTS. Nick Romito, CEO and co-founder of VTS, commented on the partnership at the time: "Access control remains one of the most fragmented parts of the commercial real estate technology stack, making it incredibly difficult for owners to provide a consistent, modern experience to tenants at scale. Our customers do not want another silo to manage. They expect technology that works together, and SwiftConnect's expertise in connecting all technologies that control identity and physical access allows us to deliver a more connected workplace experience, whilst we continue to focus on building the industry's smartest operating platform."
Although the vast majority of SwiftConnect's customers are multi-location companies or businesses in large office buildings, Kopel sees further real estate opportunities. "We are particularly successful where there is a mix of a company and a landlord," Kopel said. "Another area where there is a company and a landlord, which isn't an office, is colocation data centres. Many of our customers rent cages in a colocation data centre and control access to those cages, but not access to the front door. That is done by the company that owns the data centre. That looks exactly the same to us – like a landlord and a commercial tenant area in an office building."
