ASSA ABLOY, a provider of access solutions, will partner with new venture capital fund, Locker One Ventures, to drive the mass adoption of public smart lockers in the US.

According to the companies, Locker One Ventures will provide seed investments to locker-based start-ups, accelerating growth and creating new applications for this market.

Led by Arik Levy, a pioneer in the smart locker business for 20 years and the founder of Luxer One, the smart locker business owned by ASSA ABLOY, Locker One Ventures will facilitate rapid growth by focusing on entrepreneurial advancements, concepts and applications around the new Harbor Lockers public locker platform.

“The acquisition of Luxer One in 2018 introduced us to the smart locker industry and its potential to revolutionize package delivery in the US. Harbor Lockers and Locker One Ventures will take this to the next level by focusing on innovation to create an easy and seamless experience for everyone,” said Lucas Boselli, Executive Vice President and Head of Opening Solutions Americas.

“ASSA ABLOY has a strong history of encouraging entrepreneurship through our acquisition process and the continual development of our people and we’re excited to be a partner in this new fund.”

Harbor Lockers, a new subsidiary of Luxer One, plans to establish a network of public locker locations throughout the US, with a supporting ecosystem of applications and partners to drive adoption and usage. The Harbor HaaS (hardware as a service) platform works with third parties to build applications on top of the Harbor platform, like the Apple App store and Google Play store. 

“Creating an open locker network that any business and any consumer can use in an easy and frictionless way has been my ultimate goal since starting my first business, Laundry Locker, almost 20 years ago,” said Levy, General Partner, Locker One Ventures.

“The new Harbor Locker platform from Luxer One provides the perfect catalyst for our fund to provide seed investment to start-ups that want to drive new services, applications and business opportunities for public locker systems.”