The common stock of the combined company will trade on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol “EVLV,” its warrants will trade under “EVLVW,” and its units will trade under “EVLVU” beginning July 19, 2021.

It’s amazing how much can change in a year. Last year’s state of the market report on access control was released at the beginning of April, just as the coronavirus started to spread throughout the U.S., and much of the research that went into the report was done before COVID-19 was a real concern.

2020 has been a big year for innovation in the security industry — and entry control is far from exempt. The COVID-19 pandemic has put an increased focus on the entrance, as many companies had to restrict entry to a select few considered to be essential, and others found themselves paying closer attention to who was entering their buildings.

Available across a variety of products, these solutions can reduce touchpoints without compromising functionality in a range of facilities, including healthcare, education, office buildings and other high traffic spaces where decreasing the spread of germs is essential to public safety.

As part of the agreement, Open Options, a global provider of security and communication networking systems, will offer PopID's facial recognition-based system, PopEntry, to its existing customers as an add-on to their key card and mobile entry options. 

Here, he speaks with SDM about the surge in demand for frictionless access control, the lessons that can be learned from this health crisis and more.