AUSTIN, Texas — Minnesota startup Sentry Kiosk Inc., which makes a tool to help businesses open during the COVID-19 pandemic, is moving to Austin.
Chairman and CEO Joe Caldwell told the Austin Business Journal he has secured a location for the company at 1023 Springdale Road in East Austin and is looking for additional space.
The company is also looking for a permanent CEO to take over, the Austin Business Journal reports.
Sentry makes kiosk machines that take people’s temperatures, asks whether they have COVID-19 symptoms and does not let them enter the workspace until they wash their hands with a provided sanitizer.
The machine can read head signals to allow users to answer questions without touching the screen and it can detect masks, alerting users if they are not wearing it correctly.
The kiosks help businesses reopen amid the pandemic and can also maintain occupancy totals within an office or building.
Sentry Kiosk previously operated within Municipal Parking Services Inc., a parking meter business that gave rise to the COVID-19-fighting kiosk idea in April 2020.
Caldwell told the Austin Business Journal the move to Austin was partly due to business-friendly tax laws in Texas. He is hoping for an initial public offering for the company later in 2021 and is reportedly working with investment bank Odeon Capital Group LLC and Northland Securities Inc.
Sentry Kiosk has already hired 12 employees in Austin and expects to fill 20 to 30 more roles in the next year.
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