By Morgan Kyauk and Josiah Hsiung
When you think of physical security and video surveillance, you might think of dusty security cameras outside a grocery store or a grainy monitor at a gas station recording blurry, black-and-white footage hidden away in a dark back storage room. Yet, we rely on these cameras to protect us in our daily lives or our organization’s most important assets.
This first generation of video surveillance systems is similar to what you might picture from the movies, with legacy DVR systems centered around physical tape systems and on-premises viewing. The second generation, which emerged over the last few years, recognized the limitations of being physically on-site to view footage and added the ability to tap into DVRs through the internet. However, while connected, access was still limited and cumbersome and these still maintained a single point of failure in the DVR.
We’re now entering a new generation of video surveillance technology. This third generation offers smarter security solutions to help streamline operations and improve safety at scale by leveraging the power of the cloud, AI analytics and a fully integrated technology stack. The result is a safer, more secure and efficient environment.
NightDragon recognizes the significance of this transformation and the impact it will have on the physical security market, as well as the immense new market opportunity it presents. For that reason, we are proud to announce that we are leading a $45 million Series C round of financing in Rhombus, alongside investors Bluestone Equity, other investors, and existing insiders.
Rhombus is cloud-managed physical security platform designed to unify and streamline operations for organizations at scale. With smart security cameras, access control, connected IoT sensors, alarm monitoring, an intuitive console, and a truly open ecosystem of turnkey integrations, Rhombus helps organizations see, understand, and respond to critical events in real time.
The company offers an open and flexible data platform that layers AI analytics on top of the company’s best-in-class suite of cameras and sensors, as well as integrations with other products and access control solutions. These solutions are ready to use out of the box and are fully able to be personalized to a company’s needs or unique setup and workflows. Additionally, Rhombus is built to be secure by design — with a fully integrated hardware, software, and firmware stack, Rhombus is better able to protect against security vulnerabilities.
Companies use Rhombus to monitor physical locations, protect high-value assets and property, and even conduct commerce within a particular location. Rhombus can help leaders in these organizations remediate ineffective processes regarding security and threat management, improve safety, and scale physical security and safety capabilities as an organization grows.
Rhombus isn’t new to NightDragon. Our team has tracked this organization for years and been greatly impressed with the innovative solutions and approach to physical security. We’ve also been impressed by the leadership team, including co-founder and CEO Garrett Larsson, who has been a friend of NightDragon for many years and previously worked closely with members of the NightDragon management team.
NightDragon is on a mission to secure our world for tomorrow, with physical security as a key piece of that investment thesis. In addition to its mission and impact, physical security is a fast-growing sector, with a total addressable market of $45 billion, expected to reach $70 billion by 2030. We believe this growth presents an immense opportunity for Rhombus given the power of its team and technology.
Through NightDragon’s proprietary NightScale platform, and using the power of people, playbooks, partners, and programs, NightDragon looks forward to partnering with Rhombus to scale its current efforts and strategy. NightDragon will work with Rhombus to broaden its go-to-market efforts, with an emphasis on channel strategy and international sales expansion.
Facing the physical security risks of today is no small task, but it’s organizations like Rhombus that are moving our society in the right direction toward safety and better security for all. We look forward to working together to usher in a new era of what excellent physical security looks like, and together, secure our world for tomorrow.
Read the full press release on the announcement here.
View our full NightDragon portfolio on our Portfolio page.