People Counting Solution Density Closes $51 Million In Funding

By Amit Chowdhry ● Jul 29, 2020
  • Density — the standard platform for counting people — announced that it has closed $51 million in Series C funding

Density — the standard platform for counting people — announced that it has closed $51 million in Series C funding. This round of funding was led by Kleiner Perkins and include participated by 01 Advisors, Upfront Ventures, Founders Fund, Ludlow Ventures, Launch, LPC Ventures, and DTA. Alex Rodriguez, Julia and Kevin Hartz, Cyan Banister and Scott Banister, and several others also joined the round. Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman will be joining Density’s board of directors in connection with the funding round.

According to U.S. Commercial Real Estate Services, there is $1 trillion in unused office space in the United States. And now more than ever, owners and occupiers are evaluating how their physical spaces are used and how to preserve resources. The pandemic has accelerated the need to track building performance. Plus accurate utilization data is shaping the future of real-estate.

What Density does is count people in any space anonymously, accurately, and in real-time to help businesses safely reopen their offices and measure the ROI of real-estate portfolios.

Density uses proprietary depth sensors and deep learning algorithms to accurately and anonymously counts people in real time. And unlike a camera, Density’s platform does not capture personally identifiable information and is purpose-built for accurately measuring how people use physical space.

Density is utilized by hundreds of companies like Pinterest, Booz Allen Hamilton, Hello Fresh, NYU, Resorts World Casino. Those organizations use Density to improve efficiency and enhance occupant experience in buildings, workplaces, and real estate. And many of them are using Safe by Density to assist in reopening their buildings. Density’s customers manage over 1 billion square feet of real estate.

Before this round, Density had raised $23 million so this brings total funding to date to $74 million.

With this funding round, Density will accelerate investment in software and product, expand its sales team, and scale their platform.

KEY QUOTES:

“Thirty-two million Americans are unemployed and nearly half of the workforce can’t work from home. The world is trying to reopen. In many places essential businesses are required to remain open. Companies are just trying to do this safely. Our team is working around the clock to handle unprecedented demand from offices, manufacturers, grocery stores, industrial plants, governments, etc. They’re relying on Density to rationalize real estate and keep people safe.”

— Andrew Farah, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Density

“Density is powering the future of how we measure and manage physical space, and there hasn’t been a more critical moment in our history to get this right. Helping businesses reopen safely during a pandemic is just the start for Density, and we’re excited to lead the Series C.”

— Ilya Fushman, Partner, Kleiner Perkins

“The economic impact of the shutdowns is measured in the trillions. Density’s offering is well-timed with the rapidly increasing demand for solutions that enable social distancing and allow businesses to reopen safely. Andrew and the team have built cutting-edge technology that we believe will usher in a new era of data-driven decision making for physical spaces and workplaces. We are excited to collaborate with and support them as they work to build a great company in a new category.”

— Dick Costolo, Partner at 01 Advisors

“Density anonymously tracks how people move around buildings. The proof of the value is that most of the top companies in Silicon Valley already use our product for safety and security. To say that COVID-19 has accelerated demand for Density’s product would be an understatement. We had to raise a big round of capital just to keep up with demand.”

— Mark Suster, General Partner at Upfront Ventures

“Understanding how many people are utilizing a space is critically important, since real estate is the number one, two or three expense items for almost every business. Andrew and his team figured this out six years ago, and with their technology, partners are able to make very strategic decisions about how to manage space. Those partners are saving millions of dollars a year, which can be redeployed into R&D, salaries or simply turned into profits.”

— Jason Calcanis, Founder and CEO of LAUNCH

“Given the current environment, helping tenants to understand how many people can safely occupy their spaces and buildings will be critical in managing, designing and improving the real estate of tomorrow.”

— Eric Roseman, Vice President at LPC Ventures