MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 24, 2024--
Knightscope, Inc. [Nasdaq: KSCP] (“Knightscope” or the “Company”), an innovator in robotics and artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies focused on public safety, today announces a new contract from a Texas municipality for 3 K1 Blue Light Towers. This is the first contract through the newest Knightscope Authorized Partner (“KAP”) PMB Capital Investments, a privately held real estate investment and development company based in Dallas, TX.
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The principals at PMB have over 30 years of combined real estate and capital markets experience including the development of over 5,000 residential lots and over $750 million in direct real estate acquisitions. PMB has the flexibility to invest across all real estate product types and in equity, debt and/or mezzanine capital structures. The firm primarily targets major cities in the southwestern US with strong population growth projections. The success of this inaugural municipal sale sets the stage for the Company to secure more contracts and build long-term partnership with PMB.
The familiar blue illuminated towers are a very reassuring sight when emergency services are needed in any city. They work day and night in all weather and even when communications are most congested. Blue light emergency phone systems also always report one’s precise location reliably, ensuring the expedited arrival of the appropriate type of help.
Biotech Real Estate Developer Renews Contract for Third Year
A Bay Area biotech real estate development has renewed its contract for 2 Knightscope K5 Autonomous Security Robots (“ASRs”) and 1 K1 Tower ASR to enhance safety at its amenity-rich real estate project in a highly regulated environment. Biotech firms, like any other type of business, need to be protected from break-ins, vandalism, and other intrusions, especially as their intellectual property becomes an attractive target for theft and sabotage. Break-ins may lead to the damage of expensive physical property like rented or owned lab equipment and valuable electronics. Random vandalism may also turn into targeted vandalism, especially if companies have dealt with criticism or protests about specific research activities.
Knightscope will continue patrolling the parking structure and monitoring the common areas of this campus to help protect the physical and intellectual property under development at this high-tech facility along with the workers who are helping our communities lead healthier lives.
Get Expert Help
To learn more about Knightscope’s Risk & Threat Exposure Analysts or any of its Autonomous Security Robot, Blue Light Emergency Communication System or Automated Gunshot Detection Services, book a discovery call or demonstration today at www.knightscope.com/discover.
About Knightscope
Knightscope builds cutting-edge technologies to improve public safety, and our long-term ambition is to make the United States of America the safest country in the world. Learn more about us at www.knightscope.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “should,” “may,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “expects,” “plans,” “proposes” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release and other communications include, but are not limited to, statements about the Company’s goals, profitability, growth, prospects, reduction of expenses, and outlook. Although Knightscope believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, including the factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Knightscope’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as updated by its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are contained, and Knightscope does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.
Texas City Signs New Contract for Emergency Communication Devices (Photo: Business Wire)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s runoff presidential election Saturday, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic.
Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran’s Shiite theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. But even Pezeshkian’s modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels with enough of a stockpile to produce several nuclear weapons if it chose.
A vote count offered by authorities put Pezeshkian as the winner with 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s 13.5 million in Friday’s election. Overall, Iran's Interior Ministry said 30 million people voted in an election held without internationally recognized monitors, representing a turnout of 49.6% — higher than the historic low of the June 28 first round vote but lower than other presidential races.
Supporters of Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker, entered the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn to celebrate as his lead grew over Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator. Pezeshkian later traveled to the mausoleum of the late Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and addressed journalists in a chaotic event.
“In this election, I didn’t give you false promises. I did not lie,” Pezeshkian said. “It’s been many years after the revolution that we come to the podium, we make promises and we fail to fulfill them. This is the biggest problem we have.”
Pezeshkian's win still sees Iran at a delicate moment, with tensions high in the Mideast and a looming election in the United States that could put any chance of a detente between Tehran and Washington at risk. Pezeshkian's victory also wasn't a rout of Jalili, meaning he'll have to carefully navigate Iran's internal politics as the doctor has never held a sensitive, high-level security post.
Government officials up to Khameni, the supreme leader, predicted higher turnout as voting got underway, with state television airing images of modest lines at some polling centers. However, online videos purported to show some polls empty while a survey of several dozen sites in Tehran saw light traffic and a heavy security presence on the streets.
Authorities counted 607,575 voided votes — which often are a sign of protest by those who feel obligated to cast a ballot but reject both candidates.
Khamenei praised the turnout Saturday despite what he alleged was a boycott campaign “orchestrated by the enemies of the Iranian nation to induce despair and a feeling of hopelessness.”
“I would like to recommend Dr. Pezeshkian, the elected president, put his trust in God, the Compassionate, and set his vision on high, bright horizons,” Khamenei added.
Voters expressed a guarded optimism.
“I don’t expect anything from him — I am happy that the vote put the brake on hard-liners," said bank employee Fatemeh Babaei, who voted for Pezeshkian. "I hope Pezeshkian can return administration to a way in which all people can feel there is a tomorrow.”
Taher Khalili, a Kurdish-origin Iranian who runs a small tailor shop in Tehran, offered another reason to be hopeful while handing out candy to passersby.
“In the end, someone from my hometown and the west of Iran came to power,” Khalili said. "I hope he will make economy better for small businesses.”
Pezeshkian, who speaks Azeri, Farsi and Kurdish, campaigned on outreach to Iran's many ethnicities. He represents the first president from western Iran in decades — something people hope will aid the county as those in the western part are considered more tolerant because of the ethnic and religious diversity in their area.
The election came amid heightened regional tensions. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups armed by Tehran — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.
While Khamenei remains the final decision-maker on matters of state, Pezeshkian could bend the country’s foreign policy toward either confrontation or collaboration with the West.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, which has reached a detente with Iran, sent his congratulations to Pezeshkian that stressed his “keenness to develop and deepen the relations that bring our two countries and peoples together.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has relied on Iranian-made drones in his war on Ukraine, similarly congratulated Pezeshkian.
Responding to questions from The Associated Press, the State Department called the Iranian election “not free or fair" and noted that “a significant number of Iranians chose not to participate at all.”
“We have no expectation these elections will lead to fundamental change in Iran’s direction or more respect for the human rights of its citizens,” the State Department added. “As the candidates themselves have said, Iranian policy is set by the supreme leader.”
However, it said it would pursue diplomacy “when it advances American interests.”
Candidates repeatedly touched on what would happen if former President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, won the November election. Iran has held indirect talks with President Joe Biden's administration, though there's been no clear movement back toward constraining Tehran's nuclear program for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Pezeshkian's win did see Iran's rial strengthen Saturday against the U.S. dollar, trading 603,000 to $1, down from 615,000 on Thursday. The rial traded 32,000 to $1 at the time the 2015 nuclear deal was reached.
Though identifying with reformists and relative moderates within Iran's theocracy during the campaign, Pezeshkian at the same time honored Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, on one occasion wearing its uniform to parliament. He repeatedly criticized the United States and praised the Guard for shooting down an American drone in 2019, saying it “delivered a strong punch in the mouth of the Americans and proved to them that our country will not surrender.”
The late President Ebrahim Raisi, whose death in a May helicopter crash sparked the early election, was seen as a protégé of Khamenei and a potential successor as supreme leader.
Still, many knew him for his involvement in the mass executions that Iran conducted in 1988, and for his role in the bloody crackdowns on dissent that followed protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab.
Vahdat reported from Tehran, Iran. Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.
A woman casts her vote for the presidential election in a polling station at the shrine of Saint Saleh in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iran held a runoff presidential election on Friday that pitted a hard-line former nuclear negotiator against a reformist lawmaker. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A woman gets her ballot to vote for the presidential election in a polling station at the shrine of Saint Saleh in northern Tehran, Iran, early Saturday, July 6, 2024. Iran held a runoff presidential election on Friday that pitted a hard-line former nuclear negotiator against a reformist lawmaker. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A policeman casts his vote for the presidential election in a polling station at the shrine of Saint Saleh in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iran held a runoff presidential election on Friday that pitted a hard-line former nuclear negotiator against a reformist lawmaker. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Candidate for the Iran's presidential election Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator, shakes hand with a supporter after casting his vote for the presidential runoff election in Qarchak near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iran was holding a runoff presidential election Friday pitting a hard-line former nuclear negotiator against a reformist lawmaker, though both men earlier struggled to convince a skeptical public to cast ballots in the first round that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history. (AP Photo)
Candidate for the Iran's presidential election Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator, casts his vote for the presidential runoff election at a polling station in Qarchak near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iran was holding a runoff presidential election Friday pitting a hard-line former nuclear negotiator against a reformist lawmaker, though both men earlier struggled to convince a skeptical public to cast ballots in the first round that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history. (AP Photo)
Reformist candidate for the Iran's presidential election Masoud Pezeshkian clenches his fist after casting his vote as he is accompanied by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, at a polling station in Shahr-e-Qods near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iranians are voting in a runoff election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a May helicopter crash in the country’s northwest along with the foreign minister and several other officials. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Reformist candidate for the Iran's presidential election Masoud Pezeshkian waves as he arrives to vote at a polling station in Shahr-e-Qods near Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 5, 2024. Iranians began voting Friday in a runoff election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
This combination of photos shows Iranian presidential election candidates Masoud Pezeshkian, left, a reformist lawmaker and a former Health Minister, and Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former senior nuclear negotiator, during their campaigns, in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
