Canopy, Creator of Leading Staff Safety Solution Already Protecting 200,000 U.S. Healthcare Workers, Exits Four Years of Stealth

Canopy shifts to a direct business model, deepening health system engagement and speeding up product innovation to better combat workplace violence, and welcomes veteran healthcare security executive

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Palo Alto, CA – December 6, 2023 – Today, Canopy, the creator of an industry-leading safety solution that helps hospitals protect staff from workplace aggression and violence, emerged from four years of stealth during which its product was exclusively available through distribution partners, white-labeled under their brand names. In a major strategic shift, the company will no longer sell as a white-labeled product, and instead, will sell directly to health systems. With this change, the company is launching Canopy Protect, a new staff safety solution offering health systems the ability to monitor all physical areas of their organization with minimal ongoing maintenance. To make this shift and accelerate its growth, Canopy is hiring aggressively toward its mission to help health systems protect every healthcare worker in America.

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Canopy’s staff safety solution is an end-to-end service enabling healthcare workers to discreetly signal for help so security and all nearby co-workers can mobilize to provide help within a matter of seconds. It consists of a wearable duress button deployed to every worker that combines with a network of WiFi-connected devices installed across a hospital and complements existing de-escalation policies and training. Founded as SMP Labs in 2019, Canopy designed and continues to operate the solution on a 24/7/365 basis – including infrastructure and cloud services – for over 30 health systems and 800 locations across the U.S., helping to protect more than 200,000 individuals. According to aggregate data across all customer deployments, in 2023 alone, 10% of staff carrying Canopy Protect buttons felt threatened enough to use their buttons and received intervention from their security team to help the situation, representing over 20,000 incidents.

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Today, Canopy is emerging from stealth to announce several strategic changes that will enable the company to work more closely with health system customers in tackling the epidemic of workplace violence. 

• Canopy is launching Canopy Protect, a new staff safety offering that enables organizations to protect their workers across all indoor and outdoor locations. Canopy Protect leverages four years of experience building and deploying the leading staff safety solution used by the largest health systems in the country. 
• Canopy Protect is available to customers immediately, directly from Canopy. Canopy is ending all distribution relationships and sunsetting support for all current white-labeled products from its distribution partners over the next 12 months.
• Canopy will provide options to all current distribution partners to seamlessly migrate their existing installations to Canopy Protect with no service interruption, if they and their customers choose to take advantage of them.

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“Our staff safety solutions were developed with nurses, administrators, security teams, and  health system executives who guided us to design for easy and affordable deployment so that health systems can protect every single employee,” said Shan Sinha, co-founder and CEO of Canopy. “Today, with Canopy Protect, we are reestablishing that critical partnership with customers to improve safety and bring peace of mind to every healthcare worker in America.”

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Canopy Protect Innovations

• Canopy Protect Outdoor: Canopy Protect includes a completely new hardware addition designed to provide coverage to all indoor and outdoor locations across a health system, including parking garages and open-air parking lots. Customers report a substantial number of security incidents as employees prepare to leave or enter the workplace through parking facilities. Canopy Protect Outdoor will let workers use their Canopy Protect buttons even if they are 10 floors underground, without the need to extend electrical power or WiFi to these locations.
• 15 Years Between Charges: Canopy Protect reduces overall system maintenance challenges with new duress button options that have up to 15-year battery lives.
• More Button Varieties: Canopy Protect introduces duress buttons in a pendant style and a badge holder design that greatly improve wearability.

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Expanding Leadership

Today, Canopy is also announcing that Amy Burton will join the company as Vice President of Customer Experience. She will be responsible for customer relationships and deploying Canopy Protect as part of health systems’ efforts to respond to workplace violence. Amy was previously VP of Customer Success at Strongline (acquired by Commure in 2022), a leading staff safety solution distributor, where she led successful deployments at major health systems. 

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“I am thrilled to be joining a mission-driven company that is tackling an intricate issue with a multifaceted approach. Even as a leader in healthcare safety, we are only at the beginning of our journey.” said Burton. “I have known the Canopy team for several years and am extremely familiar with the technology they created. I believe Canopy Protect is far and away the best solution on the market, and every health system in the country should consider deploying Canopy Protect as they face growing violence against staff.”

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“Amy is widely recognized as an expert on how technology can be used to address healthcare organizations’ staff safety challenges,” said Sinha. “We have followed her career as a true customer success advocate and are thrilled that she is joining our leadership team.” 

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Canopy is investing in its team, now hiring across all areas, especially in sales and product to accelerate its product roadmap and meet customer demand in combating workplace violence. Canopy is profitable, led by experienced Silicon Valley technology veterans, and has decided to build its business without raising outside capital.

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About Canopy

Canopy is committed to helping hospitals ensure that healthcare workers feel safe, appreciated, and empowered every day to deliver the highest quality of care when they are at work. Our flagship product, Canopy Protect, helps hospitals protect their workers from patient aggression and violence. Since Canopy was founded, our technology has been deployed by over 30 visionary health systems to protect nearly 200,000 workers around the country, helping them de-escalate high-stress situations before they get out of control, helping hospitals implement Joint Commission standards for Workplace Violence Prevention, and ultimately, offer a safer and better environment for their workers and the public. 

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Canopy was founded in 2019 as SMP Labs, developing its solution in a partnership with leading health systems, experienced healthcare executives, and veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors who have built and invested in several companies that created widely-used consumer and enterprise products, and who have served in executive roles at leading technology companies including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon. 

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Canopy Contact:

Kara Spak

press@canopyworks.com