Motorola Solutions continues its strategy of investing in its video surveillance and analytics business with the purchase of Envysion, a US physical security provider for the retail sector, for $124 million net of cash on 2nd November. Envysion’s loss prevention offering for quick-service restaurants, convenience, and specialty stores is a cloud-based solution. It integrates video systems with sales data to proactively identify potentially fraudulent transactions and highlight sales patterns and in-store activity without the need to monitor hours of video footage. 

Motorola’s Q3 analyst call on 5th November confirmed that the strategic rationale of the deal was to gain further vertical market focus and that the firm had approximately $25 million in recurring revenue. It marks the fifth acquisition in the last three years targeting enterprise security solutions for the built environment.

Motorola Solutions has built its video security and access control business through strategic acquisitions in the last three years, as an extension to their Land Mobile Radio mission-critical communications business aimed at public safety markets. Their 2018 acquisition of Canadian Avigilon for around $1 billion added access control solutions in addition to cameras, sensors, and infrastructure embedded with advanced video analytics. They then expanded their fixed video security technology through the acquisition of UK-based IndigoVision for $37 million and Pelco for $110 million in 2020. 

The latest Q3 2021 results also announced the closure of the July 2021 acquisition of US cloud-based access control startup, Openpath Security for $297 million. Openpath’s solution enables 24/7 visibility of access points via their cloud platform, secure multi-factor authentication, and a contactless walk-through experience enabled by a mobile app. Powered by Motorola, the solution is expected to take a big step into global markets.

“Securing businesses around the world has never been more critical,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO, Motorola Solutions. “This acquisition enables us to combine the power of video security and access control together, providing unprecedented situational awareness, where every physical entry and exit is authenticated and recorded with access control and video.

In the Q3 investor call, Motorola Solutions also confirmed that it had invested $50 million in equity securities of Evolv Technology, a provider of weapons detection security screening systems. In July 2021, Evolv became a public company through a SPAC acquisition with Newmark Holdings. Motorola Solutions contributed to a post-IPO equity transaction of $300 million which was closed concurrently with the completion of the business combination. Through a strategic channel partnership, Motorola Solutions has introduced a Concealed Weapons Detection (CWD) solution to its video security and analytics portfolio based on technology from Evolv.

In 2020, Motorola’s video security and analytics business amounted to $927 million, 12.5% of the group’s $7.4 billion revenues. The revised 2021 full-year sales outlook reported on 5th November of over 30% growth in video and access control technology positions the business as a top-tier supplier in the enterprise security landscape.

This article was written by Daphne Tomlinson, Senior Research Associate at Memoori.