Brivo, a cloud-based access control and smart building technology company, will soon join the growing number of publicly traded companies in D.C. The company plans to go public via a SPAC merger with Crown PropTech Acquisitions this year.
The deal, previously announced in November, is expected to provide Brivo with $304 million at an $808 million valuation.
The company plans to use the new funds generated from its IPO and SPAC merger to fuel growth in its marketing, engineering and sales team, some of which will be based out of the D.C. area. Brivo currently has a little more than half of its staff — about 150 employees — based out of its Bethesda headquarters. The company plans to double its 300-person team by the end of the year, Brivo’s CEO Steve Van Till told Built In.
Van Till said that while the company explored other options for raising capital, including private equity, the SPAC merger route was ultimately the best choice.
“We weighed the two options and it just turned out that a SPAC merger was a better route for us to go in terms of the amount of capital and the cost of capital,” Van Till said, adding that the reason the company decided to enter the deal with Crown PropTech Acquisitions is because of its specialization and experience in the proptech industry. “[Crown PropTech] looks at the value of technology the same way that we do. Crown PropTech’s people come from literally two generations in the real estate industry out of New York, so they’ve got a lot of deep experience in the customer side.”
Brivo also plans to use the funds from the SPAC deal to expand its European presence. The company has had an office in Amsterdam since 2018 with a small staff of under ten employees. The new funds will help Brivo increase that team dramatically as it further expands its overseas presence.
The company experienced great success last year with a 25 percent increase in year-over-year growth. That’s up from 12 percent in 2020, which despite the pandemic was still a profitable year for the smart building technology company.
Brivo is a major provider of cloud-based access control and smart technology solutions for corporate and private real estate. The company offers a number of security and efficiency solutions such as mobile access to doors and elevators, surveillance technology, occupancy tools, smart locks and more.
Brivo is currently hiring for 25 positions in the D.C. area, with more positions likely to open after the SPAC deal officially closes sometime in the first half of the year.
Once the deal closes, the new combined company will continue to operate as Brivo and is expected to trade under the ticker symbol “BRVS” on the New York Stock Exchange.
