Crowd safety firm backed by Bill Gates and Peyton Manning debuts on Wall Street

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Evolv Technology, which in March announced plans to merge with special-purpose acquisition company NewHold Investment Corp., completed its SPAC deal on Friday and will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Monday under the ticker symbol EVLV. The company is raising around $ 385 million from the deal and is valued at $ 1.7 billion.

Evolv, whose customers include Six flags (SIX), casino company Wynn (WYNN), New York’s Lincoln Center, and the Chicago Cubs baseball, sell subscription software designed to help detect if someone is carrying a gun, knife, or other weapon.

Customers simply go through a scanner without having to unload their keys, phones, wallets and other items that they carry in bags or pockets.

“It’s barbaric if you’re going to see your favorite sports team go through metal detectors,” Evolv CEO Peter George told CNN Business. “It makes the lines disappear and it’s safer because you have the AI ​​and machine learning models that analyze it.”

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Evolv also recently introduced new thermal scanning software to monitor a person’s body temperature at elevated levels, an important safety measure in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company charges more monthly for this feature.

George said companies typically sign 4-year license agreements with Evolv. He added that the company’s technology has now screened more than 50 million people, which he said is just behind the Transportation Security Administration.

“The pandemic has changed things forever,” said George. “Everyone is rethinking their physical security strategies and we are taking analog technology and making it digital.”

Evolv has attracted the support of renowned investors, companies and celebrities. Bill Gates and Finback Investment Partners, a company headed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, are the major shareholders of Evolv. Motorola Solutions (MSI) and the venture capital branch of Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) have also invested.
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Some big names in sport are also by supporting Evolv. Super Bowl-winning quarterback and top endorser Peyton Manning, the tennis champions (and Spouses) Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, World Series winning manager Joe Torre and ex-Cubs and Boston Red Sox executive Theo Epstein, are investors in Evolv.

Evolv is just the latest company to go public through a SPAC in recent years. that of Richard Branson Galactic Virgo (SPCE) and sports betting firm DraftKings also made their Wall Street debut through blank check mergers.
But some PSPCs, including electric truck makers Lordstown Motors and Nikola, have come under scrutiny from short sellers and regulators due to questionable accounting practices.

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