Brivo to Merge With Crown PropTech, Go Public

The transaction, which values the company at a pro forma enterprise value of $808 million, will result in Brivo being listed under the ticker symbol “BRVS.”

BETHESDA, Md. — Brivo, a global leader in Cloud-based access control and smart building technologies, and Crown PropTech Acquisitions (NYSE: CPTK), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, announce that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement that will result in Brivo becoming a publicly listed company.

The transaction values the company at a pro forma enterprise value of $808 million. Upon closing, the combined company will operate as Brivo, and its Class A common stock is expected to be listed under the ticker symbol “BRVS.”

This strategic business combination will enable Brivo to leverage Crown’s experience and relationships as an owner and operator of commercial real estate to accelerate market expansion, according to the announcement.

Since its founding in 1999, Brivo has pioneered the Cloud-based access control category. The announcement states:

Brivo’s leadership was instrumental in transforming the security industry, which at the time was dominated by on-premise client-server technology, and has achieved remarkable growth with the innovative Cloud-based hardware and software solutions it began rolling out in 2002. Today, Brivo builds and sells Software-as-a-Service-based (SaaS) building access management services and innovative connected devices to enterprises and property owners through over 1,500 channel partners. These partners provide local sales, service and installation across all classes of commercial real estate including office, industrial, multifamily and retail properties.

As it continues to scale, Brivo expects to benefit from the dramatic increase in smart space adoption driven by the Proptech boom, the growing customer preference for Cloud-based services, the new normal in safety and health, and a shift in security integrator channel sentiment — which it says has swung from 20% to 75% in favor of the Cloud over the last five years.

Brivo’s high expectations for the PropTech boom were on display during the company’s Cloud Security Summit last week, where Founder and CEO Steve Van Till said, “The denominator across everything that’s happening in Proptech right now is that there is value in connecting your real estate, your property and building, your home, your work to the Cloud. It might have to do with buying it or selling it, it might have to do with keeping the environment under control, might have to do with security and protection, might have to do with any of those things, but the common thread is there’s value in connecting your building to the Cloud. So we can thank the investors for putting this hundred billion in motion over the last five years for repeating and amplifying something that we already knew.”

Brivo says sustained double-digit annual growth has been driven by constant innovation coupled with a focused land and expand strategy that has successfully increased annual recurring revenue over time by scaling customer adoption of products and services.

The company’s extensive channel partner ecosystem is said to be a key differentiator that allows Brivo to achieve attractive unit economics that drive highly productive and profitable customer relationships, with a compelling lifetime value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio of 6.1x. The company has significant organic growth opportunities with strong visibility into future financial performance from its high-retention SaaS-based model.

“Brivo is unique not only in that we created the category-defining smart spaces platform, but that our products and services are foundational systems within our customers’ buildings, ensuring the safety and security of their tenants, residents and employees,” says Van Till, also an SSI Industry Hall of Famer. “We have more experience executing on a Cloud-based access control model and successfully creating innovative smart devices than any other company in the world. This is demonstrated by our market position and channel penetration vs other Cloud-based access control providers. We have a track record of innovation, a network of sales and service channel partners, and direct insights into the needs of customers across all classes of commercial real estate — including enterprise, which is a meaningful differentiator for Brivo. We are entering our next phase of growth as a public company supported by favorable secular tailwinds driving a smart spaces revolution, and Brivo is uniquely positioned to continue to capture the growing opportunity as we realize exceptional customer buy-in, continued expansion and high levels of retention.”

Dean Drako, chairman of Brivo, adds, “Brivo is the most sophisticated and mature Cloud-based access control platform on the market and enjoys a highly compelling growth trajectory. This transaction will provide us with a significant source of capital to continue to fuel innovation and introduce high-quality products and services that protect lives and assets. Brivo is truly first and best in class, with a significant head start on others that have more recently entered this rapidly growing space. We look forward to continuing to set the industry standard and expand our position as the category leader.”

Brivo’s management team — including Van Till, COO John Szczygiel, CFO Mike Voslow and CTO Jeff Nielsen — will continue to operate and manage the combined company following the transaction. Drako will continue to serve as Brivo’s chairman of the board. The transaction will require the approval of the stockholders of Crown, and is subject to other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

Richard Chera, chairman and CEO of Crown PropTech Acquisitions, says, “As an owner and operator of a sizable portfolio of commercial properties, we recognize the significant value Brivo brings to the ecosystem, and we believe there is a compelling opportunity to leverage our experience and relationships to further establish the company as the pre-eminent provider of Cloud-based access control and smart building technology. Brivo has demonstrated its value through its strong subscription revenues, retention rates, network of channel partners, and successful land and expand strategy, creating a highly loyal customer base. We look forward to supporting Steve and the team as they advance their strategic priorities.”

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