Madison Square Garden brings biometric security to arena with Clear partnership
Madison Square Garden — home to the Knicks, the Rangers, as well as hundreds of concerts and events every year — recently announced a new partnership with security firm Clear. The partnership will provide MSG attendees an expedited method of secure entry, making waits in those block-wrapping lines a thing of the past. Clear functions by using biometric data — in this case, a fingerprint — to help identify individuals as “safe” and get them moving to their seats more quickly.
Use of Clear requires pre-registration (similar to TSA Pre-Check), but the arena will also have Clear staffers on-site, who can walk interested patrons through the one-time registration process. “Launching at MSG represents a major milestone for Clear,” said CEO Caryn Seidman in a statement. “We look forward to making our members’ experiences more efficient, easier and more predictable so they don’t miss out on what they came to see.” In the area, Clear is also available at Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, JFK Airport and LaGuardia Airport. [Read More]
International hospitality startup Selina sets its sights on NYC for U.S. launch
Get to know the name Selina, now. The company, which has raised more than $245 million since its launch in 2012, is poised to make its United States debut right here in New York City. According to reports, Selina will be opening a 126-bed property in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood this May. The property will feature amenities typical of Selina’s existing global properties: a “hotel, co-working spaces, eateries, shops, a year-round rooftop and an art gallery.”
It gets even bigger: in June, Selina will open its United States flagship property on the Bowery. The 63,000-square-foot space is set to feature a “hotel, co-working spaces, retail shops, restaurants, and an expansive rooftop lounge, plus a recording studio.” Very swanky. Selina was originally set for its United States debut back in 2018, with a Florida-based property. The launch of that location has since been pushed back to later this year. [Read More]
High-tech vending machines, coming to a subway near you?
New York City’s subway system is currently home to 326 retail spaces. While many of these spaces are currently occupied by newsstands, roughly 40 percent of available retail space is currently going unused. This statistic inspired the MTA to put together a new initiative that would see the remaining retail spaces become homes for high-tech vending machines, according to a new report.
“As part of a broader push for innovation and in response to the changing needs of our customers, we’re reimagining what retail in the subway looks like,” MTA Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber told Curbed. The funds would, naturally, serve as a boon to the ever-cash-strapped MTA. [Read More]
Odds and ends:
- The podcast boom continues! Luminary Media raised a $60 million funding round this week to fuel its creation of original content. [Read More]
- $$$ incoming: Trustpilot closed its Series E round to the tune of $55 million earlier this week. [Read More]
- Cryptocurrency startup Tagomi raised $12 million in a round led by Paradigm. Tagomi focuses on crypto-based prime brokerages. [Read More]
