Allegion Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Allegion, announced a $20 million investment in Ambient.ai, marking the firm’s largest and most significant investment since its founding in 2003. 

Based in San Jose, Ambient.ai applies artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision intelligence (CVI)  to existing security camera infrastructure. The platform is said to deliver near human-level visual perception that analyzes actions and situational context to create efficient and accurate threat detection. 

Allegion President and CEO John H. Stone said Ambient.ai aligns with Allegion’s focus on using innovative technology to enable seamless access and a safer world. 

“Allegion’s connected hardware manages access and entry points, while Ambient’s platform provides contextual understanding to dramatically reduce false alarms in access control systems and vastly improve threat detection and response,” Stone said. 

Ambient.ai was founded in 2017 by CEO Shikhar Shrestha and CTO Vikesh Khanna, experts in AI and deep learning, who shared a vision of making security proactive through technology. Seven of the top 10 U.S. technology companies, along with multiple Fortune 500 organizations across a variety of industries, leverage Ambient.ai to unify their security infrastructure and significantly enhance their security posture. 

“As we kickstart this transformative partnership with Allegion, we’re propelled by our vision of a powerful AI platform, built on seamless integrations with leading security technologies,” Shrestha said. “Allegion’s best-in-class products bring exciting possibilities to the table as we continue to deliver compelling solutions to prevent even the most complex security incidents.” 

Allegion Ventures President Rob Martens, who also serves as chief innovation and design officer at Allegion, emphasized that Ambient.ai is a true innovator in the marketplace. Martens will serve as a board observer for Ambient.ai. 

“We are thrilled to work with Ambient.ai. Shikhar and Vikesh are trailblazers in CVI and truly understand how technology can advance threat detection as well as safe access, people movement and data analytics,” Martens said. “They’re moving video surveillance from a reactive to a proactive resource, meeting evolving customer needs in physical security.” 

Additional terms of the Allegion Ventures deal were not been disclosed.