Metropolis (formerly AnyVision / Oosto)

Primary source, and the most useful single document on this page. Sets out that the Metropolis Recognition Platform 'uses facial recognition, License Plate Recognition (LPR) and Behavioral Analytics'; that BLNQ generates an arrival notification identifying a guest by name to hotel and members' club staff; and that under Security Services, enterprise customers such as corporate campuses and educational institutions manage the facial watchlists themselves, with Metropolis providing 'the technology platform' while 'the enterprise customer determines watchlist membership'. States that 'Security Services at enterprise customer location do not require individual consent', and that where notice signage is absent the omission 'is the responsibility of the enterprise customer, not Metropolis'.

Confirms collection of facial images, faceprints and behavioural data through the Metropolis Recognition Platform at MRP-enabled locations, retained for five years from the most recent recognition event. States that Metropolis does not sell biometric data or use it for advertising, and offers withdrawal of consent through account settings, a right that does not extend to Security Services. Names California's CPRA, under which biometric data is 'sensitive personal information'; does not name the Illinois, Texas or Washington biometric statutes.

Profile of Metropolis Technologies confirming the $125m January 2025 acquisition of Oosto and the November 2025 raise at roughly $5bn. Reports that rather than scaling back on biometrics, chief executive Alex Israel is 'hyper-focused on how you build that balance of driving convenience, privacy, and trust for consumers', that the company is targeting 30 million platform members by year end, that he describes Metropolis as 'a very EBITDA, very free cash-flow positive company', and that an IPO 'would be wonderful... a dream'. The clearest statement that the company is expanding this technology rather than retiring it.

TIME names Metropolis one of the ten most influential transportation companies of 2026, recording 'the largest parking lot network in the U.S., operating 4,200 locations across North America' and 'processing over $5 billion in annual payments'. Notable for what it omits: the entry describes the identification of cars and makes no mention of facial recognition, biometrics or the Israeli research and development centre.

Charlottesville's Market Street and Water Street garages moved to the Metropolis system in December 2025 on a contract running to 2029. No council vote took place, because Metropolis had acquired the incumbent operator SP Plus in May 2024 and inherited the contract. Councillor Michael Payne said the change forced residents 'into a system of AI-based mass surveillance'. Evidence that Metropolis enters public estates through acquisition rather than procurement, and that elected members object once they notice.

Company release recording operations at approximately 75 airports and over 4,200 locations globally, with AeroParker launched at Salt Lake City, Des Moines, New Orleans, Louisville, Milwaukee and Baton Rouge, remote check-in at Phoenix Sky Harbor, curbside concierge at Houston George Bush Intercontinental, and drive-in/drive-out recognition at Alexandria, Kona, Hilo and El Paso. States that Metropolis 'adds more than 1 million new Members each month', serves over 50 million customers annually and processes $5bn in transaction volume. The addressable procurement list.

Metropolis agreed to pay $8.75m ($6.5m to the state and $2.25m in parking credits) to settle a Tennessee Attorney General investigation finding it had misled consumers through unclear pricing, inadequate signage and misleading fee communications, and had made refunds difficult to obtain. Unrelated to Palestine, but the clearest available measure of the parent's regulatory and reputational sensitivity.

Joint announcement that the two companies will develop 25 vertiports across the United States, leveraging Metropolis technology 'including biometrics, broader computer vision and services like baggage handling'. Primary evidence that the recognition capability acquired from AnyVision is being embedded into new US transport infrastructure.

A $1.1bn Term Loan B arranged by JPMorgan Chase with Goldman Sachs and PNC as joint lead arrangers, plus about $500m of Series D led by a LionTree-managed fund, with BDT & MSD, DFJ, Eldridge, Slow Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tekne and Vista participating. Valuation approximately $5bn. The release describes Oosto as 'a pioneer in AI-powered biometrics'.

Oosto's own announcement of the acquisition, carrying statements from chief executive Avi Golan and Metropolis chief executive Alex Israel. The Oosto site now carries the banner 'Oosto is now Metropolis'.

All-stock deal; Oosto investors receive Metropolis Series D preferred stock. Puts Oosto's annual revenue at about $20m and total raised at $380m, but carries a correction that cash actually received may have been nearer $160m because SoftBank's 2021 commitment was tranched and largely withdrawn. Reports that chief executive Avi Golan and chief technology officer Dieter Joecker will take senior roles at Metropolis.

Reports 120 employees at the point of sale, 60 of them in Israel, following roughly ten redundancies in May 2023 including the chief financial officer. Describes Oosto's customer base as casinos in Las Vegas and Oklahoma, Australian racing venues, airports and seaports.

Israeli business daily reporting the sale. Puts annual revenue at about $10m (half the figure reported by TechCrunch and Biometric Update) and staff at 'a few dozen workers in Israel and abroad, down from over 200 at its peak'. States that SoftBank Vision Fund 2 invested $25m and will recover it. Included here because the revenue and headcount figures conflict with other reporting and the conflict should be visible.

Proposed class action filed in a US district court in Tennessee alleging that Metropolis used licence plate recognition to identify unpaid parking, then pulled registered owners' details from state motor vehicle records without authorisation to mail notices designed to resemble official government citations. The complaint characterises the practice as a business model built on 'flouting the DPPA and abusing official motor vehicle data'. Included because it shows how the company handles data it collects by camera. We have not verified the current status or outcome of this case.

Documents Red Wolf at checkpoints in Hebron, the Wolf Pack database, the Blue Wolf app and the Mabat 2000 camera network in occupied East Jerusalem, and concludes that facial recognition is used to entrench apartheid. The suppliers it names are Hikvision, TKH Security and the Israeli distributor Mal-Tech.

Records facial recognition at Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank for work-permit identification; a more classified surveillance project in the occupied West Bank for which the company received a 2018 Israeli Ministry of Defence award; supply to the Israel Police in occupied East Jerusalem; a NIS 45,630 contract with the Israeli Prison Service in 2017; and the SightX joint venture with Rafael. The entry's stated validity is 31 January 2023 and it makes no mention of Metropolis or the 2025 acquisition.

Thomas Brewster names Oosto customers including River Spirit Casino in Tulsa (Muscogee Nation Gaming Enterprises), Les Ambassadeurs in Mayfair, unnamed Las Vegas Strip casinos, the New Orleans Saints stadium, the Australian Turf Club, the Taj Mahal and Raphael Hospital in Tel Aviv. Records that Oosto disputes the surveillance characterisation, saying the technology performed 'access control'.

Describes SightX, the 50:50 joint venture with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, developing autonomous drones and a legged ground robot using AnyVision computer vision to scan buildings, detect whether individuals are armed, and identify people by face. The reporting does not state that the drones are themselves armed.

The primary source for both the divestment and the audit's negative finding. States that 'the available evidence demonstrated that AnyVision's technology has not previously and does not currently power a mass surveillance program in the West Bank that has been alleged in media reports', and that Covington could not substantiate a breach of Microsoft's facial recognition pledge, while noting the review was limited by legal restrictions on disclosure of sensitive information. Microsoft divested and ended all minority investment in companies selling facial recognition.

The original allegation, sourced to five people, that AnyVision technology powered a secret military surveillance project in the occupied West Bank nicknamed 'Google Ayosh'. AnyVision denied it, saying its software was deployed at border crossings in a manner comparable to US Customs' use of biometrics at airports. The joint statement issued by Microsoft and AnyVision on 27 March 2020 reported that the available evidence did not show AnyVision powering such a programme; the two must always be read together.

Reports AnyVision's 'Speed Gate' facial recognition being installed at crossings in the occupied West Bank serving Palestinians, and that roughly 450,000 Palestinians held electronic ID cards with photographs stored in an Israeli biometric database, up from 383,000 in May 2019, out of a population of about 2.7 million in the occupied West Bank. Quotes Jessica Montell of HaMoked that such technologies help entrench the occupation.