Alcatraz raises $50M to bring Apple Face ID-style security to physical buildings

Cupertino-based facial recognition security startup Alcatraz said today it has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by BlackPeak Capital, Cogito Capital and Taiwania Capital.

Previous investors Almaz Capital, EBRD and Ray Stata also participated, bringing the company’s total funding to date to over $100 million.

Alcatraz is the developer of physical security systems that aim to lock down key infrastructure and buildings, such as airports, data centers, energy facilities and so on. Access to these locations is enabled via facial recognition powered by artificial intelligence algorithms that can check who is coming and going from a facility without storing any personal data.

The startup’s core product, called “the Rock,” is designed to be installed at a building or facility’s entry points. It’s essentially a scanner that verifies authorized personnel are allowed to enter as they approach the building at walking speed, enabling seamless access while preventing anyone who is not allowed to enter from going inside.

Alcatraz is targeting old-school physical access technology such as identity badges and PIN numbers, which can get lost or stolen and fall into the wrong hands. At the same time, it addresses the uncomfortable questions around surveillance that plagues the alternative – facial recognition systems.

The problem with these systems is that they tie an employee’s identity to their face, storing that data on a server somewhere. But this makes that server a high-value target for hackers, Alcatraz says, inviting security breaches. Worse, most employees don’t realize that their physical appearance and identity is stored together in this way.

With Alcatraz’s technology, there’s no need to store any of this data, and there’s no stopping and swiping badges or entering PIN numbers. The system confirms an employee’s identity without any kind of persistent database. Employees enroll voluntarily, and they can delete their data associated with the system at any time.

Alcatraz founder Vince Gaydarzhiev is a former Apple Inc. engineer who helped design that company’s Face ID technology, and he said the Rock was built on a similar foundation, with privacy included as a core feature. “I wanted buildings to be protected the same way as iPhones,” he explained. “”The idea was to bring that same approach to the physical spaces where people work. AI drives the next era of innovation, and security must be the foundation beneath it.”

Investor Ray Stata said Alcatraz’s technology makes a lot of sense for companies too, because it means security is tied to an actual person rather than a piece of plastic. “Alcatraz adapts in real time rather than relying on outdated photographs,” he explained.

The funds from today’s round will support Alcatraz’s international growth and allow it to expand into new verticals. Data centers especially are a key target market for the startup as technology giants race to build out their AI infrastructure. New data centers are springing up all over the U.S., and the physical security of these sites is becoming critical given the vital importance of the workloads they support, Gaydarzhiev said.

Alcatraz has already made big inroads into the data center segment, with deployments of its technology at such facilities increasing 300% in the last year. The Rock has also seen enterprise campus deployments rise by 200%, while installations at Fortune 500 customers have grown more than five times.

“We are the guardians of AI,” Gaydarzhiev insisted. “The data centers we protect aren’t just buildings. They are the infrastructure that the entire digital economy runs on.”

Images: Alcatraz