Case Emergency Systems of Irvine, a maker of emergency communications devices, has joined forces with security technology company Knightscope Inc., which is based in Silicon Valley and went public early this year.
Case specializes in “blue light” security telephones for college campuses, parks and other public spaces, as well as wireless emergency communications technology.
Knightstcope (Nasdaq: KSCP) is paying about $7.4 million for Case Emergency, regulatory filings indicate.
The acquisition closed on Oct. 14.
Knightscope, valued around $70 million as of last week, provides futuristic-looking robots and security camera systems “to deter, detect and report security risks” for improved public safety.
As part of the transaction, Sebastian Gutierrez, founder, president and CEO of Case, is joining Knightscope as senior vice president of public safety infrastructure development.
“We see a great deal of synergies, from revenue generation to new technology development to economies-of-scale,” Gutierrez said.
Knightscope raised some $22 million in an IPO this January; its shares are down about 75% from its IPO price.
Public SafetyÂ
“We look forward to putting our expertise in public safety, wireless communications, solar, and operations to work in pursuit of our shared mission,” Guiterrez added.
Audited full-year results say Case generated over $5.4 million of revenue in 2021, and was profitable.
Knightscope said the purchase is also planned to contribute to its “sales strategy, given Case’s relationships with numerous key clients, including major airports, top law enforcement agencies, universities, municipalities, rail, healthcare, parks, and the U.S. federal government.”
Blue light phones are emergency systems and equipment that provides reliable communications on freeways, bridges, tunnels, parking lots, campuses, industrial complexes, and on remote roadways, parks and recreational areas.
“We all know that the presence of mobile phone users is growing, but it is a proven fact that Emergency Call Systems are a more effective and reliable communication path in unforeseen road situations,” Case Emergency says.
In addition to blue light phone towers, Case also provides e-phones, Lexan call boxes and retrofit kits to upgrade existing emergency call systems.
Case “has an awesome foundation of 7,000 devices out already in the field across the country,” Knightscope Chairman and CEO William Santana Li said in a Benzinga interview shortly after the acquisition was announced, emphasizing that Case is a “profitable company.”
Li said “we’ve got a lot of overlap in terms of clients that we’re calling on.”
Security Robots
Knightscope said the relationships will strengthen its growing autonomous security robot business with a comprehensive product portfolio and broadened physical footprint.
Li said Knightscope will be “building on what Case has built.”
“They do have some of these devices solar-powered, and that could help us,” according to the Knightscope CEO.
Knightscope said the acquisition will boost the company’s revenue.
“The accretive transaction provides a significant increase in physical presence to Knightscope with over 7,000 devices currently deployed across the United States, nine production and logistics facilities spread throughout California, Texas and New York, and a seasoned team located across four states,” according to the company.
