Carl, Max and I started Kisi to solve the problems affecting traditional keys and access cards; but we never imagined how big the problem actually was.
Today, making keys easy is not enough—access control needs to integrate deeply with IT and work for a variety of different use-cases and access methods, as well as security levels. This has always been the case for enterprise companies; however, it’s now possible to bring these modern standards to every company—regardless of size.
Our approach to disregard what the access control industry has produced and re-design the experience from scratch has paid off: Kisi is the first access control company to be included in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Kisi Security came in at number 306 and experienced a 1,603 percent growth over the past three years.
Inc. 500 included 10 traits that best characterize the companies chosen for the list—qualities like determination, disruption, knowledge and risk. We’re honored to be included and, while we’ve come a long way since our founding in 2012, we believe that this is only the beginning for Kisi.
We have defined our place in the security industry—with over 6.2 million unlocks every month, 7,900 connected doors, and 304,000 users worldwide—and we know that our product will change the day-to-day operations of any business that chooses Kisi. This year, our access control solution was chosen by many of the world’s most prestigious organizations—including the U.S. Air Force.
“It's unparalleled recognition of your years of hard work and sacrifice,” Editor of Inc., James Ledbetter, wrote about the companies on the list. “The founders...are the problem-solvers, the risk-takers, the ones who can't rest until they've made their solutions succeed.” Of the traits Inc. chose to define the top 500, we resonate strongly with ‘disruption.’
We saw unnecessary barriers with legacy key systems, problems that affected my co-founders and I at a company where we worked together in Germany. When we looked for a solution we couldn’t find one—so we quit our jobs and launched Kisi to solve the problem ourselves. Our product gets better every day and it’s never done; we constantly evolve to solve the needs and problems of our customers.
Inc. recognized Kisi’s huge growth over the past three years but, looking ahead three more, we aim to dominate the access control market by 2021. We took the interruption that was physical keys and legacy access control systems and disrupted the industry with our own solution.
Today, Kisi is launching “Kisi Platform”—a deeply connected security ecosystem—to bring enterprise-grade access control to every business, in order to increase overall productivity and performance. The first ten apps are testing the limit of what has been done with access control:
- Azure AD and Google Directory: Connects your door access with your company directory
- Kangarootime: Allows parents to securely pick up their child from kindergarten
- GoLocker: Allows self-service pick up of deliveries at unmanned locations
- CoReceptionist: Enables visitors to gain access with a mobile key
- Gingr: Book dog daycare and drop off your dog securely
- Doorbird: See who’s at the door and remotely unlock it for them
- Croissant - Books a coworking space and grants you access immediately
- Okta (coming soon): Single Sign On for your doors
- Allegion wireless locks (coming soon) - Connect more doors to Kisi
These are our initial partners; however, we will enable many more integrations in the coming weeks. The average number of integrations with access control systems is about five to 10. With our platform approach we are positioned to plan far beyond that.
Bernhard Mehl
Bernhard is the co-founder and CEO of Kisi. His philosophy, "security is awesome," is contagious among tech-enabled companies.
