Deal To Sell Saint John-Based EhEye Worth More Than $3-Million In Stock
SAINT JOHN – Saint John-based startup EhEye Inc., which offers video recognition software to detect threats such as firearms at public events, has been sold to Patriot One Technologies Inc.
EhEye was acquired by the Toronto-based security technology company in exchange for more than $3.2-million in common shares of Patriot One.
EhEye’s software automates the detection of weapons, disturbances and suspicious behaviours through existing camera infrastructure. Using computer vision techniques coupled with machine learning for artifact recognition, the solution employs deep learning architecture to alert security teams to anomalies that a standard video system cannot identify.
James Stewart, EhEye’s founder and CEO, said the company attracted the attention of Patriot One over the last year when both companies had booths at a trade show. While EhEye’s software focuses on detecting open weapons, Patriot One’s product focuses on concealed weapons.
“It was an absolutely perfect fit because combined, we’ve got a complete solution that we can layer on top of each other,” said Stewart in an interview with Huddle.
EhEyes’s software joins Patriot One’s family of threat detection solutions under the brand name PATSCAN VRS, denoting video recognition sensors for threat detection. Sales of the PATSCAN VRS solution will be based on a SaaS [Software as a Service] pricing model on a per camera-use basis per location. The solution is currently in late-stage pilot testing.
“We are very pleased to welcome the EhEye team into the Patriot One family. Their award-winning threat recognition software will integrate into our client’s existing video camera networks offering the first line of defense to detect active shooters or terrorists approaching a venue with weapons drawn,” said Martin Cronin, CEO and president of Patriot One, in a release.
“It will also offer an additional layer of detection inside buildings to track threats and even identify irregular disturbances or physical altercations between individuals.”
The EhEye team is now officially part of the Patriot One employee group. Stewart has been appointed a senior vice-president of video analytics for the company and the team will continue to be based in Saint John.
“Two years ago, I was laid off and I couldn’t find a job in the province. That’s how EhEye started,” said Stewart. “Now, we’ve got eight people full-time and we’re hiring three more. Besides the meaningful work that we’re doing, the fact that we’re adding jobs right here, it doesn’t get any better than that for me.”
With EhEye experiencing some highs and lows over the last few years, Stewart says his team can continue to pursue their passion and mission in a more stable environment with much more resources.
“We’re excited that we now have the stability to keep building what we love. It’s been a long couple of years of grinding it out. The type of work that we’re doing has given us the staying power to see through the dark times,” said Stewart.
“If we were working on anything else, we would have packed it in long ago, but now that we get to keep doing and innovating and add ourselves to a larger family, that’s the dream come true for us.”
The terms of the transaction provide for the acquisition of a 100 per cent equity interest in EhEye by Patriot One in consideration of the issuance of 1,636,363 common shares of Patriot One, which closed at $1.99 on Tuesday, to the existing shareholders of EhEye.
Patriot also proposes to grant up to 277,775 replacement incentive stock options to employee, director and officer option holders of EhEye in consideration of the cancellation of those outstanding EhEye options.