Category: Blog Post

Democratizing Security: Keeping People Safe

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Helping Evolv become a public company has been an incredible, and humbling experience. Our customers, employees, advisors, and investors have been wonderfully unified behind our mission of making the world a safer place, and we are truly thankful for their support. Building momentum through an unpredictable pandemic has been a wild ride, but we’ve come through it stronger than ever. Now that our transformation into EVLV on the NASDAQ is complete, it’s a good time to look to the future. 

While becoming a public company is a noteworthy milestone for all our stakeholders, the stakeholders I am most focused on are the millions of innocent people rushing back into their favorite venues, unaware that they’re surrounded by concealed weapons. Compelling new data and the lived experiences of our customers have convinced me that the threat profile is spiking in ways that few people fully realize and even fewer are equipped to address. As security professionals, we need to start thinking differently about the threat and work together to address it. 

Take Me Out to The Ballgame, but Don’t Touch Me. 

After 16 months of pandemic anxiety, travel restrictions, lockdowns, social distancing, and masking, the vaccinated population is justifiably feeling entitled to return to all their favorite gathering places. Most people are emerging from the pandemic fog with excitement, but many still harbor significant anxiety about being in crowds or having physical contact with? strangers. The professionals who run facilities and venues are understandably thrilled to welcome back their visitors, but it must be done in a way that recognizes the long-lasting—and possibly permanent—changes in visitor expectations. Going back to densely crowded, hands-on security screening is not what anyone wants in the post-pandemic world. 

There are More Guns than You Think  

It’s no secret that there are a lot of guns out there, but many people don’t realize that they likely encounter multiple concealed guns every day without realizing it. Based on industry data, we estimate that there are over 440 million civilian-owned guns per person in the U.S. That’s around 1.3 guns for every person in the country. About 42% of U.S. households own at least one gun and few guns are kept exclusively at home. A quarter of Americans say they carry a gun at least sometimes and nearly a fifth, 18%, claim to carry every day. And no, it’s not just a red state thing: 28% of people in the Northeast say they carry a gun at least some of the time. 

Civilian Firearms in the United Statesbased on Evolv analysis of datafromSmall Arms Survey 2018andSmall ArmsAnalytics2018-2021.

Another fact that might surprise you is that the United States is not the only country where civilian-owned guns are common. According to Small Arms Survey research, there are 85 countries with 10 or more civilian-owned guns per 100 population. The list includes Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries you might not expect. There are almost half a billion civilian-owned guns outside the United States, and while mass public shootings may feel less common in other countries, the list of tragic incidents outside the U.S. is not short.

Map of civilian guns per 100 people by country from theSmall Arms Survey 2017.

Guns are in the Building 

Nearly every privately-owned facility and venue prohibits dangerous weapons, but the inconvenient truth is that many weapons slip through. How do I know this? Because most of our customers tell us that when they start using our Evolv Express® weapons detection screening, they find a shocking number of guns—far more than they expected and more than they ever found using procedures based on old technology such as metal detectors. I know of one facility in the U.S. that found 57 concealed guns in their first hour of testing Evolv Express at a single entrance. And no, it wasn’t a gun show or a law enforcement convention. It was a place where any average American family might find themselves on any given day of the week.  

The stark reality is that old metal detector screening procedures fail to catch a lot of guns. That’s not to say metal detectors don’t work—it’s the combined system of people, process, and technology that fails. Metal detectors alarm on so many harmless objects that security staff divert all bags and pocket contents into slow, error-prone manual searches. Working under the angry stares of hundreds of frustrated visitors, security staff are under incredible pressure to keep things moving. The guns slip through. 

A Fraying Society is a Dangerous Society 

The likelihood of tragic violence increases when more guns are in the hands of people who are unusually anxious or fearful. New gun purchases were up 64% last year in the United States. The CDC says 40% of U.S. adults reported recent battles with mental health or substance abuse during 2020, with the prevalence of anxiety up 3X and depression up 4X year on year. And ongoing political polarization and extremist ideologies are creating an increasingly volatile situation.  

More guns in more anxious hands means more tragic incidents. It’s just math, but that’s the reality of where we are as a society. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security summarized the situation in a 30 June law enforcement bulletin as follows: 

“In recent weeks, domestic violent extremists (DVEs) motivated by various violent ideologies have continued to advocate violence and plan attacks. As of 16 June, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist-white supremacists (RMVE-WSs) were sharing downloadable links to a publication discussing targeting mass gatherings, critical infrastructure, and law enforcement officers.”

It’s not just a handful of extremists who are changing the threat landscape. While only a tiny minority of gun owners are infected with the extremist ideologies that the DHS is tracking, the fact remains that many of people around us every day are feeling threatened enough to arm themselves. This increases the risk of tragic escalations where misunderstandings and opportunistic conflict can quickly erupt into violence. 

The Duty of Care to Keep People Safe 

The police recently arrested a man who tried to enter a major tourist destination with an unlicensed gun that was detected by Evolv Express. When questioned, the man explained that he felt threatened by recent public protests and felt he needed the gun to protect his family on vacation, and was willing to take the risk of detection. That’s where we are. The strength of the “visible deterrent” factor is fading fast. Facilities and venues need to start reliably detecting and stopping guns, and then let the public know they have this capability. It’s the only way to reclaim the lost ground, and it needs to happen soon. 

If anxious gun owners are trying to slip into major tourist destinations with guns even when they know it is illegal and can clearly see security screening in place, it is safe to assume that they are also entering schools, grocery stores, malls, houses of worship, and other facilities where weapons are also prohibited, but screening is largely absent. The threat is everywhere.  

As noted earlier, our customers tell us they find a surprising number of weapons with Evolv Express. They also tell us they love that they find more guns while allowing harmless visitors to enter ten times faster than their old screening process based on metal detectors and universal bag checks. They tell us they need fewer front-line security staff overall with Evolv Express, and the remaining staff loves the new process. They also tell us they love the operational awareness they get from Express Insights™ analytics. We hear this same story across hundreds of sites as we scan over 11 million individual visitors every month.  

At this point, I believe it has become abundantly clear that Evolv Express has set a new and higher standard for what security screening should be.  I believe every facility and venue owner has a duty of care to carefully consider the new standard that our weapons detection system represents in light of the escalating threats we’re seeing. We are committed to democratizing access to this technology over time so it can be everywhere it needs to be to keep the vulnerable masses safe.  

If you want to be part of raising the standard of safety for millions of people, we’d love to have your support. Here are a few ideas on how you can help. If you are responsible for security at a facility or venue, please get in touch so we can discuss your needs. Consider speaking with the security staff at the places you gather most often and ask them if they have considered weapons detection. If you’ve experienced the speed and precision of Evolv Express in person, help us tell the world about it. And if you are looking to get more directly involved, note that we’re hiring in almost every department. Together we can all do a little to make everywhere safer.  

Today’s Threat Environment: A Conversation with Former Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan

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I recently had the privilege of participating in a webinar with Mark J. Sullivan, former Director of the United States Secret Service and a member of the Evolv Board of Directors. 

It’s always enlightening to hear Mark’s views on a range of topics focused on the state of security today and best practices for security professionals. Since he left the Secret Service, he’s worked with a wide range of organizations to help improve their security. Here are some highlights from our conversation. 

Me: What kind of creative approaches have you seen with security professionals in terms of using their budgets most effectively? 

Mark: I see a lot of people conducting threat vulnerability and risk assessments. It comes from having good plans, good policies, and good procedures. As well as having clear lines of communication with leadership—using people, technology, and ultimately using multiple layers of security to come up with the best plan for that organization. 

Me: As you look out over the threat landscape today, what are you seeing as the threats that should be of particular concern to us all? 

Mark: Automatic weapons, shoulder weapons, assault weapons, vehicle-born improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These threats continue to evolve, and the challenge is to anticipate where the threats may come from. We are seeing that the softer targets become attractive to those who are looking to do harm.  

Me: As security professionals think about the softer targets within their venues, and as they think about multiple layers of security, they should think about security protocols and mitigation approaches that might be visible and some that might be less visible. What is your guidance? 

Mark: A lot of it comes down to situational awareness. Is there any type of pre-attack surveillance going on? How do we identify those types of pre-attack behavior? How are human resources used to provide a physical presence? How is access control handled? Are the people coming in, the right people? They also have the challenge of the insider threat. How do you identify those people in the organization that are potentially going to cause harm? 

Me: What is your perspective on the value of deterrence as part of an overall security plan? 

Mark: People are hardening their venues, their buildings, their businesses, and many people are doing it via screening. Over the past 15 years, we have seen that every professional sports league has gone to screening. They’ve been very aggressive with it and very successful keeping threats out. As threats continue to evolve and as firearms continue to be the instrument that people are using, more and more people are looking at that visible and effective system of screening. 

Me: Let’s talk about the threats themselves. In May 2021, we saw 72 active shooter incidents in the U.S. – more than two a day. How should security professionals think about this wide range of threats and identify the ones that might be the most impactful?  

Mark: No one security protocol is going to fit for everybody. Every venue, every business, every organization is going to have to approach it from an individual perspective. A lot of people are coming up with their matrix of what they believe to be their highest threat, what risk those threats present to them, where the gaps are, and what are the best ways to mitigate against that risk and how do you close up the gaps. 

Me: What are some of the best practices you’ve seen? 

Mark: Communication and decision making are both very important. We don’t want bad things to happen, but we know that they are likely going to occur. I think people are putting a lot of time and effort into having well-defined plans to react to a situation. I see more and more people coming up with Security Operations Centers or Joint Operation Centers: One central location as a coordination point for situational awareness is important.  

Me: Let’s talk a little bit about technology. During the pandemic, we’ve seen a change in consumer expectations around touchless technology: Touchless payments, curbside pickup, touchless ticketing, etc. We’ve seen touchless security as an expectation of consumers, whether it’s fans, employees, or kids going back to school. We’ve seen a desire to use modern technology to make things fast and accurate. How have you seen technology, technology screening, and maybe even the Evolv Express® system affect and positively impact security at venues? 

Mark: You want technology that is going to be impactful for the operator. During the pandemic, one of the things with Evolv Express screening is the fact that it is touchless. I think that has been impactful. We’re looking for technology that is going to get the job done efficiently and effectively. The less contact the better. The more you can enhance the patron experience, the client experience, all the better. That is the goal for Evolv. Making their community safer and making it a better experience. And, you don’t want to require the operators to have deep technical skills. You want this technology to be easy to understand, easy to operate, and easy to deal with. 

 

The full webinar is available at Security Magazine. 

The New Standard: Safety in Motion

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What if we lived in a world where we could work, learn and play together without the fear of weapons violence? This is what our founders Mike Ellenbogen, Co-Founder and Head of Technology, and Anil Chitkara, Co-Founder and Head of Corporate Development have set out to do. All of us at Evolv Technology share that same mission; transform security to enhance everyone’s life. This is our duty-of-care and we hold ourselves accountable to it. 

As of today, six months into 2021, there have been 319 mass shootings, compared to 417 in all of 2019 (according to www.gunviolencearchive.org). The old standards for security aren’t keeping up with the security requirements of today. Many institutions that have used metal detectors for security realize they can no longer keep large numbers of people queuing in security lines. Aside from the potential health hazard lines create, this opens up an additional security vulnerability. Venues and enterprises that have never used security screening are now budgeting to keep their visitors safe. Traditional metal detector technology just cannot address the pace of life and the ubiquitous need for security in our daily lives.

We need new standards. We need security that continually improves – touchless, free-flowing, and frictionless technology – supported by a strong concept of operations and enforced by well-trained security personnel. The days of bag checks, wands, and body checks are unacceptable and biased. We must find the weapons, not the metal. Advanced sensors and artificial intelligence are at the forefront of this evolution. This is where we come in.

We are obsessed with our customers’ success and strive to do better and be better for them. That requires authenticity and real products that work. At Evolv we do what we say and say what we do. There is no room for bravado. 

Evolv innovations are fueling the physical security transformation, disrupting the status quo. Evolv Express®, powered by Evolv Cortex AI™, can distinguish between metals that are personal items from weapons used for harm. No longer do visitors, fans, employees, and students need to stand in long lines to slog through metal detectors. They can move at the pace of life through our weapons detection systems, eliminating the potential soft targets long lines create to seamlessly flow through security. Life shouldn’t feel like airport security.

New standards call for a new brand. We’re calling it Safety in Motion. The modernized look is representative of our technological innovations in security screening, using cutting-edge technology for today’s security needs. Moreover, we wanted our new brand to reflect our mission: Transform security to enhance everyone’s life. We think it does, we hope you do too.

The Momentum Builds with Record Revenue and Motorola Partnership

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As we emerge from the pandemic, public health, safety, and security are driving structural changes to the way we interact with each other and the experience we demand in public environments. Not surprisingly, these structural changes are driving strong secular tailwinds for Evolv. 

I see it every day — in our business, in conversations with our customers, and in the types of opportunities we see happening in the field. Venues are looking to reopen safely as pandemic-related restrictions are lifted, which has increased demand in our core industries.  In addition, the new post-COVID reality of patrons expecting a frictionless and safe experience is creating pent-up demand in important new markets such as casinos. 

Here are two examples: Last week, we announced record revenue and bookings as demand continues to accelerate for our transformative weapons detection screening technology. At the same time, Motorola announced our partnership, incorporating our solutions as a key screening technology for its Concealed Weapon Detection (CWD) video security and analytics portfolio. Let’s talk first about our record quarter. 

The numbers are proof of the momentum I was describing earlier. In the first quarter of 2021, revenue was $3.9 million. By comparison, revenue for all of 2020 was $4.8 million. Bookings based on Total Contract Value (TCV) for the first quarter of 2021 were $8.2 million; for all of 2020, TCV Bookings totaled $21.3 million.  

We expanded our total head count by 80% in the first quarter of 2021 and increased the sales quota by 25%. We achieved an increase of 177% in security screens over the prior 12-month period. 

The numbers are only a part of the momentum story, however. The accelerated rate of reopening across North America (and the new way so many of these venues are reopening) is translating into significant demand. Our technology has proven itself to be transformative time and again in real-world settings for some of the most iconic venues and companies in the world.  

Several major market professional sports teams—including members of MLB, MLS and the NFL—are now using Evolv to reopen with a safer, frictionless fan experience. Casinos are installing our solutions at a rapidly growing rate. Interest in Evolv has never been higher. At the same time, our ability to respond to and satisfy this growing demand has never been greater.  

Whether Lincoln Center, L.L. Bean, Six Flags or the hundreds of other Evolv customers, the market is now following their lead in making their venues safer places to live, work, and play. And we’re benefitting from that in spades 

Coming back to the partnership we announced with Motorola Solutions last week, however, highlights another angle of our momentum, around what I’ve called the digital threshold.  

Traditional security products are too slow, costly, and error prone for today’s world. Even the most motivated well-trained guards can only do so much, especially when they are fighting a flood of nuisance alarms from outdated analog technology that can’t tell the difference between a gun and a phone.  

Similar to the way in which the cybersecurity industry has adapted to a new era of digital threats, the physical security market is experiencing the same kind of transformation. As I have said before, this digital transformation will not only reduce costs, but also unlock innovations that transform the screening experience. Partnering with Motorola helps us accelerate this transformation. 

There are many important aspects to the momentum we are experiencing. It allows us to hire more terrific people, is part of the story we tell as we raise money and approach our public listing, and it enables us to invest in our products and in delighting our customers.  

But, perhaps more than anything, the momentum is providing us with a proof statement that we are fulfilling our mission of making the world a safer place to live, work, and play. I can speak for the entire team at Evolv when I say that we all take enormous pride and satisfaction in that. 

(Re)open for Business: The Steps Venues are Taking to Ensure Visitor Safety and a Positive Experience

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Spring has now officially sprung and, along with the annual emergence from winter hibernation, comes a cautious sense of hope. The world is starting to wake up from our year-long battle and make plans again. There’s a sense that it’s time to have fun and escape reality for a little while. But along with this sense of hope and a readiness to have some fun comes new and heightened visitor expectations, and safety and security awareness.

Until now, security professionals have had to make a tradeoff between visitor security and visitor experience – what we refer to as the “protection paradox.” Achieving this balance is the crux of Evolv Technology’s mission: return confidence and peace of mind to people visiting public spaces by changing the paradigm of how security professionals can assure venues are safe from the most serious threats without compromising visitor experience. 

IAAPA’s March Funworld article, Screening Entry Screenings, outlines how forward-thinking entertainment venues such as Hersheypark and the Georgia Aquarium embrace this vision by implementing Evolv’s AI-enabled touchless security screening systems. With Evolv’s technology, these venues are able to deliver improved security with minimal disruption to the visitor experience because our sensors and algorithms are smart enough to listen to their environments and continuously adapt.

Each venue is unique, they come in all sizes, shapes, ages, and infrastructures; security technology needs to be flexible in order to work in all of these environments, without exception. According to our founder Anil Chitkara, Evolv’s advanced sensors and machine learning algorithm enable our systems to distinguish between threats, such as firearms and explosive devices, from everyday personal items, like keys and phones. Because of this, Evolv Express® is able to screen up to 3,600 people per hour, 10 times faster than legacy metal detectors.

This means visitors can walk through the detection systems at a normal pace and in groups. They don’t have to empty their pockets. They don’t have to surrender their bags. When the system detects something concerning, it alerts staff with a picture of the guest and the location of where to conduct a secondary search. With this image-aided alarm resolution, guards are able to take swift action and have less concern about missing a potential weapon. The results are significantly fewer false positives, which creates less stress, and dramatically reduces physical interaction between guards and visitors, alleviates long lines and enables critical social distancing at venue entry points.

Without saying it, people are saying, “don’t touch me!” This is the age of the touchless customer experience, where security priorities have shifted toward safety AND health. Touchless technology certainly isn’t new. What’s new is the subtle shift from this technology being what consumers want, to what consumers need.

In a recently conducted Harris Poll survey, 95% of individuals who had attended a ticketed venue stated they felt it’s somewhat to very important to pass through metal detectors. However, 68% of survey respondents felt metal detectors required their belongings to be touched by a security guard, 65% felt metal detectors created crowds that violated social distancing guidelines, nearly half (49%) were not willing to accept security screening that forced families to be separated during security and 44% were not willing to accept being searched by physical pat down during security screening.

As people return to recently opened venues, they will evaluate their arrival experience along a continuum of touch – high, moderate or none. Venues with invasive security and hands-on inspections tell visitors that they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Modern entrances, with a smooth, touchless flow of screened visitors is what the customer wants. 

The desire to minimize physical contact is driving demand for touchless interaction. By employing technology like Evolv’s AI-based touchless security screening systems, venues like Hersheypark, Six Flags Theme Parks and Georgia Aquarium create family-friendly environments where visitors feel safe, aware they are being protected but not intrusively reminded of it.

For more on the topic of reopening venues, we invite you to download our Harris Poll whitepaper and read the associated blog. 

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Evolv Technology from September 18 – October 3, 2020 among adults ages 18 and older who attended an event at a ticketed venue in 2019 (n=506). Results are weighted to be representative of population under study based on US census population targets on education, age-gender, race/ethnicity, region, and income.

Transforming Human Security and Saving Lives

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Evolv Earns Edison Award for Completely Reinventing Threat Detection

Last week I had the distinct honor of accepting, on behalf of everyone at Evolv Technology, the Edison Award we won last year for the “game-changing innovation” that our Evolv Express® system and Evolv Cortex AI™ software platform represent. We got word of the award last spring, but there was no public event at which to actually receive it – so while I participated in this year’s ceremony from afar, it was gratifying to virtually bring the award home.

That’s because the Edison Award is one you want to display proudly for all to see. It’s one of the few awards that truly recognizes significant technical innovation in products that solve actual problems in the real world, as opposed to in a lab. And herein lies our story.

As the original announcement said, the award goes to companies that are “changing the world with their incredible vision, their commitment to innovation, and the introduction of new products and services that will make consumers’ lives safer, healthier and more sustainable.” 

Our second-generation product, Evolv Express, for which we earned this award, is a game-changing weapons detection system. With its’ ability to scan up to 3,600 people an hour and the intelligence to differentiate between weapons and personal items – without forcing people to empty pockets and bags or break stride – it’s improving security at the speed and scale required in this post-pandemic world. 

Evolv Technology is leading the digital transformation of physical security, one that is touchless and addresses today’s threat of pandemic viruses as well as concealed weapons. By harnessing our technical innovations in sensors and AI to overcome the widely recognized deficiencies of outdated security screening products, Evolv’s technology enables ticketed venues, workplaces and schools to vastly improve their ability to keep their customers, employees, guests, students and staff safe all while rapidly and more naturally enter these venues.  And, it’s all done in a way that integrates with the way people want to live, and more importantly, the way they deserve to live.

 

Edison, Bell and Early Metal Detectors

The Edison Award, of course, is named after Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time, and holder of some 1,093 U.S. patents. Evolv Express is an entirely new approach to metal detection technology first created by another renowned inventor and Edison contemporary, Alexander Graham Bell.

While Bell is best known as the inventor of the telephone, he was also experimenting with a metal detection device around the time in 1881 when President James Garfield was shot by a disgruntled diplomat. The bullet was lodged in the president’s chest and for weeks physicians attempted to find and extract the bullet.

Bell had successfully used his device to detect bullets in sides of beef and shrapnel in Civil War veterans, so he thought it may be of use in Garfield’s case. But the device failed for a simple reason: unbeknownst to Bell at the time, underneath the horse-hair mattress on which the president was lying was another made of steel wires. Those wires interfered with Bell’s metal detector, which was based on electrical inductors, rendering him unable to find the bullet. In other words, the technology couldn’t separate the signal from the noise – we’ll come back to this technical challenge. 

By the 1920s, metal detectors using radio frequency (RF) waves began to come on the scene. While they have been refined over time, the metal detectors we all pass through today are based on that same 100-year-old technology.  

Interference: An Age-old Issue

And that technology still suffers from the same challenges that rendered Bell’s detector unable to help President Garfield….interference. As we all know, anytime you pass through a metal detector, you are asked to empty your pockets and remove any metal – keys, phones, wallets and so on, and pass through in single file. In effect, all those personal items are interfering with the detector’s ability to detect the real threat: weapons. Legacy technology and an outdated approach certainly don’t integrate with the way people live today.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

In 2013, after the Sandy Hook school shooting and Boston Marathon bombing and amid terrorists shifting targets to nightclubs and stadiums around the globe, we founded Evolv with the singular goal of keeping people safe by finding a way to detect weapons at places that aren’t mandated to do so – like nightclubs, schools, workplaces, sports and concert venues.

These kinds of venues, companies and schools need security that does not disrupt the public gathering experience and avoids the problems that come with traditional security approaches such as crowds, single-file lines, bag checks, wands and invasive pat downs.

We knew there was a hurdle to get over. If the detection device presents too much hassle and creates lines, people won’t embrace it.  It needed to be seamless, accurate and fit within venue operations.  It had to balance the desire to improve safety with the need to maintain or even improve the visitor entrance experience.

Evolv has a Singular Goal

Starting out with a small team of colleagues who are world-class in understanding detection challenges, we had the idea to combine state-of-the-art sensors with smart software and machine learning algorithms to solve this problem. After refinement and iteration, we’ve delivered on our goal: detection technology that is all at once accurate and frictionless. And can perform reliably under real world conditions.

Now, About that Signal to Noise Problem

When I say accurate, I mean we can reliably differentiate a weapon from a phone and the other objects we all carry on a daily basis, and we’ve accounted for variables such as wind and vibration that may throw off other forms of RF-based sensors. And by frictionless, I mean you no longer have to empty pockets, go through screening single-file, or even slow down your normal walking speed.

Security Can Only be Effective if it Works in the Real World

Innovation in our space has to address often competing requirements: balance the physics of detection, address the realities of the all the stuff we carry, and support the operational needs of the customer.  And it has to satisfy all three in a way that achieves high throughput, quickly and more securely.

That, I would argue – and the Edison Award folks apparently agree – is game-changing technology. And it certainly helps to make us all safer.

So, I proudly accepted the Edison Award last week on behalf of all the smart, dedicated people on the Evolv team who helped develop this technology, refine it in the lab, and bring it out into the field, where it can solve real-world problems. I hope both Edison and Bell would be impressed.

The Future of Security After Mass Reopenings

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Using AI to Stay Safe

On April 21, 2021, Evolv Technology CEO, Peter George, joined Bloomberg Quicktake Anchor, Tim Stenovec, to discuss Evolv Technology’s touchless AI-based security screening technology.

Transcript

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
Well, this week, a leader in AI touchless security screening announced an update to let customers comprehensively review, analyze, and collect valuable data on their security checkpoints. Evolv Technology says it’s screened more than 50 million people, second only to the TSA in screening people in the US. The company recently announced plans to go public using a SPAC merger with New Hold Investments. Joining me now is evolve technology CEO, Peter George. Hey Peter, thanks so much for taking the time and joining us on Quicktake this afternoon. Where would people have interacted with Evolv Technologies products without even knowing about it?

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
Well, they would know about it because they’d walked through our venues, Tim, places like stadiums, performing arts venue, schools. What would be different about walking into that venue through our system is that they’d walk into the venue and not break stride, no lines, nobody would touch their stuff, and we be able to screen for threats without them breaking stride and without them divesting of the things that they normally carry.

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
And that is a transformative experience.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
Yeah. I mean, I’m looking at the website right now, and I know that I’ve certainly walked through these machines at museums and venues. I wonder, though, what it’s fair to call these, right? Are these metal detectors? Not really, right?

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
No. Their threat detection security screening devices, advanced sensors powered by artificial intelligence. So we can find the needle in the haystack and the needle is the weapon amongst all the things that people are carrying.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
Right.

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
And the magic is the ability to discriminate between a phone and a firearm. And that’s really, really hard. We’re all carrying phones and keys and things that are metal. Metal detectors are really good at finding all metal, but they’re really bad at finding weapons, and we find weapons really well.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
How do you do it? What’s the technology that you use?

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
Sure. So we’ve combined very, very advanced sensors. As you know, there’s been a lot of advancements in sensor technology and cameras, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. We fuse those all together. And we, as I said, could find the needle in the haystack. So as people walk through the venue, we’re creating different kinds of telemetry, the fragmentation of the metallic composition, the shape. Oftentimes, we’re looking for the barrel of a gun and when we find it, we can make a quick determination. But if it’s anything else that’s either metal or anything else they’re carrying, they can walk in without it. And so the ability to find a weapon on people while they’re moving without them taking their things out of their pockets is really, really important. You can imagine it completely transforms the entry into venues, where there are lots of people. We basically make lines go away and make the people in the venues on the other side super safe.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
Okay. This sounds pretty great. I got to tell you, I haven’t been in an airport in a long time, but I know that the last time I was in an airport at TSA, this is not the technology they were using. There was a long line. Why doesn’t TSA use Evolv Technology?

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
Sure. So we’re going to let the TSA worry about the sterile environment and the sterile environment is making sure nothing gets on a plane with 500 people and goes 10,000 feet in the air. The founders of this company actually had spent a lot of time in aviation and recognize that there was a big need for safety outside of aviation, where people were gathering, stadiums, performing arts venues, theme parks, and using traditional technology like metal detectors, which by the way, Tim, was invented 90 years ago, to solve that problem just didn’t make any sense.

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
So it’s a really hard problem to solve, which is to find weapons on people that the weapons are concealed while they’re moving, and we solved the problem. It took us five years to do it and about a hundred million dollars. And so we’re in a great position now to democratize security and bring security to all those other venues, not like airports, that when people come back from this pandemic, they want to gather safely and we can allow that to happen.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
I want to understand though about why it wouldn’t be in an airport right now and why TSA wouldn’t use it. Is it because the technology isn’t as sensitive as a metal detector? You use the term a sterile environment.

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
Yeah. So we are in some airports today. In fact, seven of them. People are using our technology for employee screening.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
Okay.

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
So people could use it in their airport, but most of our focus is in the 0 billion TAM, which is non-aviation TAM, non-regulated.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
You say TAM, total addressable market?

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
What about this SPAC here? There was a surge in SPACs over the last few months. We saw a real dip in the most recent time period. Why is SPAC the right way to go public?

Peter George (Evolv Technology CEO):
Yeah. So look, we knew we were going to raise money and/or go public in the next couple of years. Their both certainty to close, and then timeframe, time to the capital we thought was super important. And the SPAC vehicle provided us that in a really a terrific way. As you know, we’re helping reopen America. And now’s the moment for people to understand who we are and how we can help them. So we felt by fully capitalizing the company, we can take advantage of the accelerated growth that we have in the market and help customers reopen safely. So we’re thrilled about this. Our plan is to become a public company sometime in Q2, probably in June. We’re really excited about that and working very closely with all kinds of venues today helping them open up.

Tim Stenovec (Quicktake Anchor):
Yeah, well, it’s certainly cool technology and I hope to be back in museums and concert venues soon as well. Evolv Technology CEO, Peter George. Hey Peter, thanks so much for taking the time, and for joining us on Quicktake.

Living the Mission Every Day

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I grew up in Paterson, N.J. where my dad served as a police officer for 25 years. At a very young age I decided to follow in his footsteps and set my sights on becoming a police officer. After graduating from high school, I was too young to apply for police work and honestly still had some growing up to do so I enlisted in the Navy. Upon being discharged, I returned to my hometown in New Jersey and focused on finding a job in law enforcement. While participating in the hiring process for several agencies, I was routinely asked why I wanted to be in law enforcement and my standard answer was that I wanted to help people and keep them safe. I know this sounds so stereotypical, but I truly believed this and carried this commitment with me throughout my twenty-eight-year career and still to this day in my current role.

I was successful in finding a career opportunity in law enforcement and started my career as a corrections officer working in a county jail, I later transferred to the courts as a sheriff’s deputy but still had a longing to be a patrol officer and moved with my family to the Seattle, Washington area where I served as a patrol officer with a city police department south of Seattle. While with this agency I worked in several positions in patrol, but my favorite assignment was in the community policing unit where I was very active in working with the community on crime prevention matters and also with an elementary school where I worked closely with the school staff and students delivering classes to them on personal safety and crime prevention.

In early 2002 I transferred to the Port of Seattle Police Department, which is responsible for policing Port owned properties on the Seattle waterfront and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Immediately after joining the Port, I became deeply involved in the community, volunteering in schools, conducting crime prevention training sessions, implementing block watch programs and educating people about safety.

In 2017, after serving 28 years in law enforcement I retired and joined a technology company that was implementing a security/safety program to enhance a mobile platform offering which moved me to the Tampa, Florida area. A few months later I was on my way to the gym when I heard the news report regarding the active shooter incident at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. I have to admit, it hit me really hard, I pulled off to the side of the road and listened to the report and felt this overwhelming need to help out, unfortunately I was far from the area and retired for a few months already so there wasn’t much I could do. I thought back of my years in law enforcement and what my former peers might be doing to work with their communities to assure everyone was safe but that was as much as I could do. I realized in that moment that I really missed being active in a job where my primary focus was to keep people safe.

Throughout my law enforcement career, I had committed an immense amount of time to personal safety training which included active shooter training for both the community such as Run, Hide, Fight principles and as the Training Unit Commander we implemented active shooter response programs for our officers. Additionally, I had the opportunity to serve as the Executive Producer for a video called Airport Active Shooter which came about after the active shooter incident at the Los Angeles World Airport (LAWA).

Several months later, while attending a conference in New Orleans I ran into Chris McLaughlin who was a VP of Global Solutions with Evolv who I had previously met when I was with the Port Police. I was really impressed with the company’s offering and upon researching the company further, I felt connected to the Evolv mission: To make places safe and keep people safe. That aligned with my life’s mission, the core belief in which I had always taken enormous pride, it seemed like a match made in heaven and it was!

A Common Purpose with Our Customers

At Evolv, I get to live my mission every day. A few weeks ago, I heard about the shooting at the Sarasota County Fair which is practically in my backyard. It really bothered me. It so happened we had an Evolv Express® system in the area because we were conducting a proof-of-concept pilot for a potential customer in the Tampa area. The system was available, and I immediately thought: “We can help.”

I reached out to our internal team and leadership all of which were supportive, so I called the Fair and spoke with their CEO and offered to help them. Our offer was to let them use an Express system free of charge for the remaining week of the fair to screen guests for weapons. They were thrilled. Seeing the Fair had an immediate need to keep people safe we stepped up and got an Express up and running to help solve a problem, just like my days as a police officer, focused on solving problems. We had great results at the Fair and the entire Fair Executive Team were very impressed with the Express and even more impressed with our Company for our willingness to step up and help keep people safe!

I really enjoy my role with Evolv, it affords me an opportunity to develop close relationships—friendships—with many of our customers. A big part of that is the fact that we share a common mission to keep people safe.

One example is the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando where keeping people safe was at the forefront of their “Front yard Festival” concept.  In order to provide patrons with a safe way to be entertained during the pandemic they pivoted and created an outdoor venue. Their front yard became their performance space and with a mix of new programming, they are reigniting the greater Orlando community – all within a safe perimeter where they leveraged the Evolv Express touchless approach to weapons screening as part of their reopening plan.

Another example is the Florence County School District in South Carolina. We all are too familiar with the shooting incidents that have occurred at our schools and the Florence County Schools are committed to preventing these types of incidents from occurring in their schools and implemented the Evolv Express to assist them in keeping staff and students safe.

Florence had metal detectors, but the superintendent, school board and security director wanted to use a more innovative way to prevent weapons from entering the schools. Despite the additional cost of the Express, they were focused on protecting their students and staff and made the investment in Evolv. After assuring we were the right fit for their environment, we worked with their team to deploy the Express and enhance the overall process of screening for weapons replacing the walk-through metal detectors which had more of a prison feel than that of a learning environment.

Safety First, Always

From the time I talked with Chris McLaughlin in New Orleans, one of the things that has been consistent is that we are always up front and honest with our customers—and with ourselves. We tell customers exactly what our systems can and can’t do and work with the customer to develop an overall process to address their screening needs. If we get asked a hard question, we always give the honest answer. Having been on the receiving end of many sales pitches over the years I can honestly say that was not my experience with many other companies. I truly appreciate that Evolv is honest in our approach to solving a very serious problem of gun violence and works hard at improving our technology to assure we meet our mission of keeping people and places safe.

When I left law enforcement, I couldn’t be sure I would ever find a job in the private sector that would give me the same sense of satisfaction I had and fulfill the need I have inside to help people. But Evolv is a truly mission-driven company. To me, that’s the beauty of the company. We all feel that way, from the junior levels of the company to the very top; doing what is right for the customer, keeping places safe, keeping people safe.

Taking Pride in Keeping People Safe

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I’ve spent the better part of the past seven years in the security industry, the last four helping to keep people alive. Before joining Evolv in February 2020, I was with a company that specialized in detecting metal contraband for prisons. We did searches to find cell phones and other foreign objects, including knives and razor blades that inmates were using to hurt one another and hurt staff members.

While working for that company, I imagined a product that would work like the Evolv Express®: A system that was touchless and unobtrusive, yet still capable of stopping the most dangerous threats. At the time, I didn’t believe such a product existed, except in my imagination. In reality, I wasn’t sure a system like that was even possible.

Doing what I was doing, ferromagnetic detection, I knew how difficult it would be to design a product that would intentionally miss all of the benign metal objects we all carry and just detect concealed handguns, bombs and large knives. Then I met with the team at Evolv. I asked to see the product. I saw it in action and said to myself: “I have to get this job.”

I am one of those people who has to be passionate about my work. I’ve never been so passionate about a mission like this before, and I’ve never worked like this before because I’ve never cared like this before. I get enormous satisfaction out of helping people. Helping them do their jobs better, get home earlier so they can be with their families, and doing my part to keep people safe.

“We need help”

I view my job as working with customers to help get people into venues more quickly while trying to locate concealed weapons they are not supposed to have—to create a clean environment. With our system, customers are able to treat every visitor the same—everyone walks across the same digital threshold. And everyone is treated with respect.

During all of my site visits, pilots, go lives and normal operations, I’ve watched more than a million people walk through our systems. They were all at a given venue for the right reasons, to enjoy a show, or do their jobs, or spend time with family and friends at a theme park or ballgame. I want to be able to help more and more venues prevent another active shooter event like the ones we’ve seen recently in Boulder and Atlanta.

I have a personal connection with all of my customers and a personal stake in their success. I could talk about my customers all day, but I’d like to focus on one that is close to my heart. In December, we received a call from a high-end shopping destination in Atlanta. That’s my home turf, where I grew up. That’s the mall I went to all my life. A mall where my mom and dad go, my cousins, other family members, friends and people in my community.

They said, “we need help.” There had been a string of shootings, including one where sadly, a person was killed. My colleague and I went to see them and arranged to set up an Evolv Express at one entry point. We detected several concealed weapons instantly and many over the course of a few days.  Prior to our engagement, my mom told me, “I’m not going to that mall anymore.” Friends said the same thing. We now have systems at multiple entry points and my friends and family say they are feeling easier and more confident about returning to their favorite shopping destination. I applaud the mall ownership for their forward-leaning approach and dedication to creating a safe environment and the best experience possible for their patrons and staff.

“We are all here to make a difference”

My family means the world to me. My mom and dad are my role models and heroes. The last thing I could ever think of is someone coming into a venue and taking them away from me. It sickens me when I hear about these things, these senseless acts like the one in Boulder. I know with the work we are doing at Evolv, we have a chance to stop these events from taking place at other venues. It gives me an enormous sense of pride and gratitude to know I am doing everything I can to prevent these senseless acts of violence. And I know that all of the people at Evolv feel the same way. We’re all here to make a difference. We have our mission, and our mission is to keep people safe.

It’s About the Data – Applying Analytics to Step Change Security Screening and Operations

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In 2006, Clive Humby, a British mathematician and entrepreneur in the field of data science, declared “Data is the new oil.” This compelling position has been amplified thru the years and referenced in numerous settings for various intents, particularly with the advent of machine learning and AI. While the comparison may often create interesting debate material, what is generally recognized is the finite supply of oil versus the infinite waterfall of data.

Until now, physical security screening and rich front door visitor entry data has been an untapped resource. With legacy screening systems, visitors pass through a security checkpoint as a single, moment-in-time transaction, and because legacy systems are analog, digital data escapes uncaptured in the wind—

Moving from analog to digital, Evolv has transformed physical security screening using state-of-the-art sensors and AI-based software. Our systems constantly capture valuable data at this “threshold real estate” which can be mined, analyzed and used for optimizing operational efficiency.

The refinery

Screening and entry data while plentiful is just a raw resource. From our “Data is the new oil” reference, it needs to be processed and refined to derive value. Analytics helps harness the data and extract value to improve your security posture, optimize your resources (both security, general venue operations, and front of house), and ultimately create delighted customers. 

The premise that using data and analytics to optimize operational efficiency is not a quantum physics or atom splitting concept. There’s nothing new here except it’s never been applied in the physical security screening space. In fact, some say that physical security screening is the land that digital transformation forgot. Evolv Technology just unveiled an important enhancement to our Evolv Express® digital, touchless screening system, one that gives companies access to a “refined” repository of data, self-serve analytics, and dashboard tools to improve decision-making across a variety of organization functions. Introducing Evolv Insights™our powerful, SaaS-based analytics application.

By leveraging the rich data from Express and its machine learning and AI engine, Evolv Insights™ provides security and operations professionals with a single, easy-to-use, self-service dashboard to view, review, analyze and gather insights, from their screening and venue entrance. Example data types are granular 5-minute visitor arrival curves, total venue visitor counts, system detection performance, identified threat category counts and comparisons across multiple business dimensions including sites, entrance doors, event types, system detection settings, time periods and more. 

And this is just the beginning. Future integrations of additional Express sensor data, 3 party data sources, social feeds like weather, and rich venue enterprise data will expand our ability to provide more predictive and prescriptive venue relevant insights.

Data and actionable insights to optimize operations

Until now, security teams have been forced to make operational decisions based on biased judgement and anecdotal inputs, collected manually under the pressure of time. With automated data collection and actionable insights, security teams move from reactive management and intuition-led decision making, to proactive, data-informed readiness. Resulting actionable insights will empower security teams to transform security, operations, and the holistic visitor experience.

  • Simply Report on Security Performance to Leadership – Quickly review aggregated performance across the install base. This “snapshot” provides unique situational awareness and enables a holistic view of customers’ Express systems to optimize performance. This view is especially helpful when showcasing system performance to leadership teams.
  • Data-driven Improvements to Security Posture – Access individual scanner, location and detection setting comparisons. Drilling down and comparing system performance related to clear rate, visitor counts, arrival curves, and more, enables root cause analysis and inspection by event types, venue locations, individual entrances, and singular scanners.
  • Partner with Operations Teams to Deliver a Better Visitor Experience – Review the density of visitor arrivals with a color-coded heat map and correlated time-series view. Anticipated patron arrivals across seasons, weeks, days, and specific hourly trends by entrance and event type is available. Understanding these load times helps to more effectively plan staffing to provide visitors and employees with a welcoming, line-free experience.

Security seat at the table and value center

The ability for security professionals to advance a “data beats opinion stance” and to provide actionable recommendations across the enterprise will elevate the interaction and effectiveness across functions. Security equipment and leaders will no longer be viewed as a “necessary evil”, but as a coordinated and integral part of overall venue success.

If data is the new oil, analytics is the new refinery!