CAPE TOWN – South African tech startup RapidDeploy, whose cloud-based software enables public safety officials to reduce emergency response times and improve situational awareness, has raised $12 million (R163m) in Series A financing.
GreatPoint Ventures and Samsung NEXT provided the Round A funds, enabling RapidDeploy to accelerate the development and deployment of its Cloud Aided Dispatch platform.
Brett Meyerowitz CTO and co-founder said : "We are exceptionally honoured to have such influential and experienced partners on board, which will not only enable us to expand our existing and highly innovative product and technology teams but will also assist us to further leverage leading cloud and mobile technologies in the interests of the first responder communities we serve.”
Ray Lane, Managing Partner at GreatPoint Ventures and former President and COO of Oracle, will join RapidDeploy’s Board of Directors.
“We are thrilled to join the RapidDeploy team. Modernising the first-responder ecosystem with cloud-based dispatch technologies will enable public safety organisations to perform faster and seamlessly across jurisdictions,” said Lane.
“Together with RapidDeploy, Samsung is building the first-responder technology of the future," said Raymond Liao, VP and Ventures Managing Director at Samsung NEXT.
“We are excited about RapidDeploy's products and first-responder culture, which complement Samsung’s end-to-end solution to public safety including smart devices and public safety LTE infrastructure demanded by emergency service providers.”
Designed by first responders, RapidDeploy uses modern cloud-based technology that solves key challenges faced by emergency service providers who often are slowed down by legacy infrastructure. RapidDeploy’s Cloud Aided DispatchTM technology is more reliable, faster to deploy, more cost-effective, and richer in interfaces and features than outdated, on-premise computer-aided dispatch software.
Last August, AT&T announced that it was teaming up with RapidDeploy to provide 9-1-1 centers access to RapidDeploy’s cloud-based platform. Since then, RapidDeploy has assembled a core team of US-based public-safety industry leaders who are passionate to drive innovation and improve emergency communications, and opened its global headquarters in downtown Austin, TX, earlier this year.