Security Industry Association Holds First-Ever StartUps in Security Pitch Competition at ISC East

SIA’s inaugural competition spotlighted the most promising emerging companies in the security industry, with winners receiving cash prizes and recognition.

SILVER SPRING, Md.—The Security Industry Association (SIA) held its first-ever SIA StartUps in Security Pitch Competition at ISC East, which spotlights the most promising emerging companies in the security industry. This live pitch competition, presented by SIA’s StartUps in Security community, recognizes innovative companies in the security industry and services sector, with prizes including cash prizes and visibility for their emerging firms.

In the 2026 pitch competition, the seven participating companies got access to a high-profile platform to present their market-ready solutions to leading investors, industry executives, integrators, end users and technology partners. Entrants pitched their businesses before an elite panel of security industry experts and investors known as the SIA StartUps Wolf Pack. Judges included Brian Karas of ADRM, Annie Lan of EGIS Capital Partners, Mark Eklund of 24Aries and Jay Slaughterbeck of Minuteman Security and Life Safety.

Entrants were scored on problem clarity, their solution/product, the market opportunity, business model, pitch quality and overall readiness.

Following the first-round live competition Nov. 4 on The Bridge stage at ISC East, three finalists advanced to a live championship event the following morning, Nov. 5, back on the Bridge Stage, where final judging and selection occurred in front of the live audience of ISC East attendees.

Top among the winners was Sharlic AB, a Swedish B2B SaaS company founded in 2023 in Malmö by security industry veterans, most with backgrounds at Axis Communications and Securitas. Sharlic is a cloud-based service delivery management platform for recurring licenses, subscriptions and services sold through the security channel. The founding team has built new business areas from zero to $100+ million and has lived the problem first-hand as manufacturer, integrator and the person doing the spreadsheet at night. Sharlic is backed by top investors, including Axis Communications founder Martin Gren. The company launched commercially in the United States in 2026 and has paying customers in six countries, and its mission is to set the new standard for building recurring monthly revenue, at scale, in the security channel. For its first-place recognition, Sharlic received a $2,500 cash prize, a free ISC StartUps exhibit at ISC 2027 and one ticket to Securing New Ground (SNG) 2027.

Coming in second place—and earning a $1,000 cash prize and one ticket to SNG 2027—was Angel Protection Systems, which was founded in 2022 after the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas. In the mass shootings Angel’s team studied, 90 seconds was the average time between the first shot and the first 911 call. The company exists to close that gap and stop mass shootings from becoming mass casualty events. Its solution detects a brandished firearm on the security cameras a facility already owns, a licensed analyst verifies every detection and one alert reaches the facility, 911 dispatch and, where applicable, the nearest hospital at the same moment. Because Angel’s solution looks for the gun, not the gunshot, help can be on the way before a shot is fired. Today the company protects 19 paying customers, including 11 school districts, three hospitals and four local governments, across more than 1,850 camera streams from a 24/7 operations center in Midland licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety. It earned $500,000 in revenue in fiscal 2026, and seven customers have renewed, including all three hospitals.

Rapidflare received third place in the 2026 competition—earning a $1,000 cash prize. Rapidflare builds agentic artificial intelligence (AI) for technical sales and support teams at physical security manufacturers, integrators and distributors. In this industry, every deal and support ticket depends on someone who knows the products inside out: which panel works with which reader, what a power supply can drive, whether a camera fits a spec. Those experts are scarce and always overbooked. Rapidflare puts that expertise into AI agents that read a company’s datasheets, install guides and catalogs and answer the way a senior sales engineer would, with a citation for every answer. The company works with manufacturers, cloud platforms, integrators and industry bodies across the security ecosystem. All four co-founders spent their careers in the electronics and security industries.

SIA congratulates all three winners, as well as the other innovators who participated in the first-ever StartUps in Security Pitch Competition—Gloocel Innovations, Non-Lethal Labs, Simple Proof and Syrch. All participating companies’ solutions were featured in the ISC East StartUps area on the ISC East show floor.

SIA StartUps in Security is a SIA community and accelerator program for security innovators. This dynamic initiative is designed to identify, support and partner with innovative startups, scale-ups and industry leaders shaping the future of security technology. Eligible participants in the community include companies in their early operational stages and focused on product/service development, innovation-oriented businesses introducing novel solutions, organizations targeting large or emerging markets with significant growth potential, companies that typically rely on external funding for growth and businesses managing significant market and financial uncertainties. Learn more about SIA StartUps in Security and join here.

About the Security Industry Association

SIA is the leading trade association for global security solution providers, with over 1,700 innovative member companies representing thousands of security leaders and experts who shape the future of the security industry. SIA protects and advances its members’ interests by advocating pro-industry policies and legislation at the federal and state levels, creating open industry standards that enable integration, advancing industry professionalism through education and training, opening global market opportunities and collaborating with other like-minded organizations. As the premier sponsor of ISC Events expos and conferences, SIA ensures its members have access to top-level buyers and influencers, as well as unparalleled learning and network opportunities. SIA also enhances the position of its members in the security marketplace through SIA GovSummit, which brings together private industry with government decision-makers, and Securing New Ground, the security industry’s top executive conference for peer-to-peer networking.