SIA New Member Profile: Solo Secure

New Security Industry Association (SIA) member Solo Secure is a consumer-driven company that provides safety education and the necessary tools for protection. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, and its products are sold online, with a plan for the ability to buy in select stores in the future.

SIA spoke with Iasha King, co-founder of Solo Secure, about the company, the security industry and working with SIA.

Tell us the story of your company.

Iasha King: As a long-time martial artist, I knew the importance of personal safety. Even as a skilled self-defense professional, I hesitated to carry any self-defense tool, such as a pocket knife, due to the concern that such a tool can be used against you in a self-defense situation. This made me envision a biometric self-defense pocket knife that could only be used by the owner, with a blade that retracts when the knife is removed from the owner’s hand. This idea also solved the child safety issues posed by traditional pocket knives. This vision resulted in the birth of the SOLO Blade idea.

When I met Solo Secure co-founder Nate Ramanathan, a deep tech entrepreneur and investor from Silicon Valley, and presented my idea of SOLO Blade, Nate quickly realized that there is a huge unmet need in the personal and public safety space. My passion for personal safety and SOLO Blade idea combined with Nate’s deep-tech background and passion for disruptive technologies resulted in a patentable line of self-defense Internet of Things (IoT) products that we now call Connected Smart Security Devices and the creation of the SOLO Secure Public Safety Platform, which uses IoT, 5G, edge computing, edge security, wearables, machine learning (ML), emotions artificial intelligence (AI), drone countermeasures, smart cities and public safety predictive analytics to revolutionize the landscape of personal and public safety.

What solutions/services does your business offer in the security industry? And what makes your offerings/company unique?

IK: SOLO Secure is unique to the security industry in many different ways. We offer self-defense IoT hardware that focuses on security on the go, allowing individuals to protect themselves by holding off attackers while help is on the way. All SOLO products are activated through biometric authentication, allowing the owner to be the sole user of the SOLO defense tool. Once the tool is out of the owner’s hand, it will automatically shut down, making it impossible for someone else to use against the owner or against anyone else.

Our SOLO Secure App is a social platform that allows users to have a curated news feed keeping them up to date on safety-related issues such as crime, natural disasters and traffic incidents.  It also allows users to create like-minded community groups and contact help during an emergency and connects to all of our SOLO defense products. In addition to the app, SOLO Secure Platform is an AI-enabled public safety platform that uses edge computing, edge security, ML, live face recognition, emotions AI, drone countermeasure tools and public safety predictive analytics to assist smart city securities.

What is something we might not know about your company – or something new you are doing in security?

IK: Unlike current self-defense tools that are available on the market, our SOLO defense products are AI-powered edge computing IoT devices. All of our products are designed to de-escalate security and safety situations by providing situational awareness. Our products are activated by the user with biometric authentication and communicate to the SOLO Secure Platform through state-of-the-art communication technologie,s including BLE, 5G network and, in the future, LEO satellite systems, giving law enforcement and prechosen friends and family members the user’s exact location and relevant information. Furthermore, SOLO Secure will be enabling a drone mesh countermeasures platform to provide real-time situational awareness to law enforcement and first responders to de-escalate security situations.

In addition to valuing innovation and empowerment, our company focuses on inclusion. Historically, marginalized groups have been left out of spaces and discussions focusing on safety.  We believe that everyone has the right to feel safe no matter their background (race, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation or financial ability). We make it a point to ensure that we are including everyone in our vision of a safer world.

We will be launching our SOLO Backpacker and SOLO Secure App in January 2022. The SOLO Backpacker is a phone case that securely holds your ID, a few credit cards and cash securely on the back of your phone and can only be opened with your biometric, voice or face recognition. This product will help eliminate financial and identity theft when you leaving your personal belongings unattended.  The SOLO Backpacker can be opened through our SOLO Secure App, which also allows you to stay up to date on current crime, weather and traffic incidents that will keep you safe and informed. The app also allows you to connect with like-minded individuals and be part of a community through groups and direct messaging. Through SOLO Secure App, safety meets social. Visit solosecure.com to learn more and sign up for our wait list and giveaway opportunities.

What is your company’s vision, and what are your goals for the security industry?

IK: To empower all individuals and leverage the Internet of Things to provide personal safety and peace of mind to every responsible citizen who is concerned about their safety.

Our goal is to collaborate with personal safety experts, governments and other stakeholders to harness the power of artificial intelligence and edge computing to create a safer and more respectful society.

What do you think are the biggest opportunities in the security industry right now?

IK: Security is always going to be a popular topic. Unfortunately, crime is not declining on a national scale, and therefore the need for security is strong and will continue to be high. Currently, the perimeter security space is saturated with many large players; however, SOLO Secure focuses on security on the go. There are very few companies focusing on this type of problem – protecting individuals while on the move. The biggest opportunity for the security industry is in assisting the evolution of smart cities through IoT, LTE/5G enhanced services, edge AI, edge security, edge computing, real-time incident center as a service, citizen twins, emotions AI, wearables, monitors for public safety, utilization of LEO satellite systems and public safety predictive analytics. SOLO Secure seamlessly integrates all these technologies to provide a safer place for all.

What are your predictions for the security industry in the short and long term?

IK: Short-term, in the next 2-5 years the industry will see a huge transformational benefit from drone countermeasures, edge AI, edge computing, live face recognition, ML, real-time incident center as a service and public safety predictive analytics.

Long-term, in the next 5-10 years the industry will see a huge transformational benefits from emotions AI in public safety and law enforcement, LEO satellite systems, immersive training in law Eenforcement and public safety and high to moderate benefits from citizen twin, field streaming videos, head-mounted displays, Rapid DNS in policing, smart robots and edge security.

What are the biggest challenges facing your company and/or others in the security industry?

IK: Being the first to go to market is exciting but comes with a lot of challenges. Although the security industry as a whole is not new to the scene, AI in personal security on the go and public safety is brand new. The technologies that we are bring to the market are cutting-edge, and it will take time to adopt. For example, emotions AI will be extremely helpful in de-escalating a situation; however, the adoption rate will be slow due to the public concern over the accuracy and bias. As with every AI platform, more data improves the accuracy of the system. There may be some distrust with new technology, so we expect some pushback and hesitation with trusting the technology in our product, which is why quality and reliability are top values in our company.

What does SIA offer that is most important to you/your company? And what do you most hope to get out of your membership with SIA?

IK: SIA membership is very valuable to our organization in many ways. As an AI/ML tech startup, we look for SIA’s support in building our organization to develop and deploy transformational technologies. We look forward to working closely with SIA and supporting non-regulatory approaches that encourage AI research and development and allow security professionals to harness new capabilities that make security and life safety systems more effective.

We hope to get the opportunity to be part of the coalition and advocacy in promoting and development of technologies such as live facial recognition, emotions AI and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS. We would love to take advantage of the networking and educational opportunities that SIA offers.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.