Ah, the morning pat down: wallet, check; phone, check; keys, check. That’s been my routine for decades. That’s probably been your routine for decades as well. And yes, we’re carrying a super computer in our pockets, but so much of our daily lives is still unlocked by mechanical keys — little mechanical gizmos and puzzles that were invented as long as 6,000 years ago! The ever so common, pin and tumbler lock, was patented by Linus Yale, in 1848, 170 years ago. (Kudos to the Nexkey team for educating me on these tidbits!)
But so much for the history lesson. The bigger questions is when will this change? There have been numerous startups in the “residential smart lock” space (August, Lockitron, and Otto to name a few), but none of them have actually left a real dent in the space, and definitely not for the workplace.
When K9 Ventures moved its headquarters to The Kennel in 2014, one of my goals was to not have to hand out physical keys to the space. Physical keys have all sorts of deficiencies:
1. Picking physical locks is relatively easy and you could probably teach yourself how to do this by watching videos on YouTube.
2. Physical keys are easily copied. You can walk into any hardware store and copy a keys for a few dollars. Forget the whole soap bar trick to make an impression of a key, these days you can just take a picture of the key from your smartphone and submit it via an app to have it duplicated.
3. Physical keys are easily lost. And if you lose a key, the only way you can be safe is to rekey the lock and get new keys.
4. Key distribution with physical keys is a nightmare. Keeping track of who you have given physical keys to and getting them back is not a fun thing at all.
5. Temporary access requires coordinating key drop-offs and pick-ups, often resolved via using lock-boxes. But lock boxes are their own single point of failure as the code on those lockboxes are rarely cycled. Want to get back into that Airbnb you stayed at last week? Chances are the lockbox code is still the same!
6. If something does go awry unless you have some other form of surveillance, you really have no way of knowing who accessed the space last and whether it was locked afterwards.
…yup, physical keys are a pain. Enter Nexkey…
The pain of physical keys is exactly why, when in 2015, I heard about Nexkey, I was so well primed to understand the problem and relate to it, that I just had to invest in the company. Here is a quick video about Nexkey:
The most unique thing about Nexkey is the versatility with which it can cover any type of lock.The Nexkey Core is a electronic lock cylinder. To install a Nexkey Core, you simply take out the existing key cylinder, and replace it with a Nexkey Core. This works for any kind of lock, a deadbolt, a lever lock, a mortise lock, a padlock, even potentially a filing cabinet. The beauty of the Nexkey core is that its battery can last upto 50,000 actuations. That’s probably somewhere between 5-10 years depending on use! And the off-the-shelf battery is user replaceable (from outside!) with a single set screw.
The Nexkey Controller can be added onto any door with an existing electronic strike, and can work in parallel with any existing badge reader systems that a building may have in place. The Controller makes it possible for users to not have to carry RFID badges or fobs any more, and instead simply use their smartphone to unlock the door.
With Nexkey I’ve been easily be able to give out “keys” to over 50 people who have access to The Kennel. And I can also time delimit their access, or give temporary access. In case someone doesn’t have a smartphone they can get access via a text message code. And I can revoke that access at any time. If a company graduates and moves out of The Kennel, I can revoke their access right from the Nexkey app.
And every single access on Nexkey is logged with a full audit trail, that shows when keys were sent, revoked, or when a user accessed a secured resource/space.
Nexkey’s Hub allows remote access to critical resources from anywhere. It’s a complete smart access platform with products that can be matched together to create a unique and customized solution for every workspace.
Nexkey is designed from the ground up with commercial and business users in mind. Although there is nothing preventing Nexkey from operating in residential use cases, our focus is clearly on offices and commercial spaces; places where key management is a much more interesting problem than in the home. As such, Nexkey is delivered to our customers as an upfront hardware and installation cost, and a monthly subscription fee per door.
Building a hardware company is never easy. The technology and the platform behind Nexkey has been in development for well over 3 years. K9 Ventures is pleased to be an investor in Nexkey alongside our friends at Upfront Ventures. We’re pleased to be announcing the public launch of the company today. And unlike other companies that announce their products and then are unable to deliver, we’re excited to report that Nexkey already has several happy customers! (Shot above/on the left is from a real, live customer installation in San Francisco)
If you’re a tech startup, a co-working space, a corporate office, a warehouse, a retail store, or pretty much any place that has several doors that need to be secured and more importantly several users who need to access those doors, then Nexkey is the company that can finally solve your key management headaches. Stop worrying about your keys, and get Nexkey.
And oh, if you happen to be a #FriendOfK9 stop by The Kennel for a visit; I’d be happy to give you a personal demo!
Press Kit:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zSYMz9LEVpCpqs1SSac-dT9UKzaX5zKL
Website:
https://www.nexkey.com/