MY BIZ: Coralville tech company aims to make ‘a safer world’

CORALVILLE — Is there a way to make schools, hospitals and other organizations safer?

That was the question that led to the creation of IntelliSee, a real-time platform that uses artificial intelligence to monitor existing surveillance cameras and alert clients to potential problems.

“We have the audacity to think we can make the world safer,” said Scott Keplinger, the Coralville-based company’s CEO, investor and board member. “When we started, it was about how can we better protect schools, then hospitals and stores, so they actually can afford it.”

IntelliSee, a spinoff from University of Iowa, launched in 2020 and began selling its product in 2022. Its clients include the UI, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, private and public K-12 schools, community colleges, and other organizations in Iowa and other states.

The Iowa City Community School District is piloting the program. And the Peoria, Ill., public school system signed up for the risk management platform in August

24/7/365

The company’s artificial intelligence software monitors the surveillance cameras a client already has in place, 24/7/365, scanning for threats — weapons, trespassers, unauthorized vehicles, and other threats — and sending real-time alerts when it spots a potential problem.

“Surveillance cameras are everywhere today but most don’t have a human watching them because most places can’t afford to have someone there to watch the screens,” Keplinger said.

“Organizations that do have human monitoring — it’s a tough job. Most of the video doesn’t matter, our brains are wired to zone in — tunnel vision — or we eventually zone out, we all have bias, we call in sick, and we can even panic or freeze in a crisis.”

IntelliSee provides backup to that human monitoring or works on its own with autonomous monitoring.

‘Ethical’ AI

Keplinger said the company has invested more than $4 million in its “ethical approach” to artificial intelligence monitoring that does not use facial recognition technology, which would present concerns for schools and hospitals.

For schools and others, Keplinger said, the system continuously scans for risks, including weapons.

“Our hope is, if the weapon is detected outside the building, the school can prevent an armed person from entering the school,” he said. “If the weapon is inside the building, the goal is to stop it from being fired. And if the weapon is being fired, to let the good guys know where the shooter is during the chaos of the situation.

“If we can prevent another Uvalde, Texas, or Michigan State situation, it will have been worth it,” Keplinger said, referring to recent school shootings.

Keplinger said the company is continuously expanding its platform “at no additional cost” to its customers. “We added vehicle and loitering detection with our last release and will be adding sudden crowd formation alerts later this year,” he said.

The company, which has 10.5 full-time-equivalent employees, also works with the insurance industry to mitigate risks, including risks that have nothing to do with guns, such as a spill that could lead to a fall. In that case, the system alerts custodial staff to a spill and, if the spill still is there 10 minutes later, reminds the custodial staff with a copy to the boss.

The new technology is catching people’s attention. IntelliSee won the 2022 Excellence in Product Innovation from the National Systems Contractor Association. “We’re very proud of this as we were competing against large, multibillion-dollar companies that have been around for decades,” Keplinger said.

The Iowa Economic Development Authority loaned the startup $100,000 in 2020 — which it has repaid — and OK’d a $500,000 innovation loan this month to scale up operations.

Marion HS grad

Keplinger, 55, a Marion High School and Iowa State University graduate, was a business executive in Chicago before moving back to the Des Moines area when he and his wife, Jeanette, started their family.

He left a corporate job in the Des Moines area to invest in and run IntelliSee.

“I love the pace of startups,” Keplinger said. “We’re mission-based. That’s the reason we’ve put in all the blood, sweat and tears and what feels like 90-hour workweeks.”

The startup also includes Greg Carstensen of Asymmetria Group and Ballast Capital; Richard Ferguson, the former CEO of ACT in Iowa City; and Daniel Clay, dean of the UI College of Education — all members of IntelliSee’s board with Keplinger.

“Although our business is growing nationally, we all have deep Iowa roots,” Keplinger said, with ambitions to improve the world through our “smarter surveillance for a safer world.”

Know a Corridor business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing mary.sharp@thegazette.com.