On Dec. 19, the disaster mitigation startup One Concern raised a $20 million Series A.
“As we look ahead to 2018, the world needs to shift from recovery to resilience,” One Concern Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Wani wrote in a Medium post. “It is no longer enough to simply weather the storm — our communities need approaches to predict impact and protect their citizens from the rising tide of disasters and extreme weather events.”
That’s the thesis of One Concern: To help government better respond to disaster. The company applies machine learning algorithms to various kinds of data to figure out, for example, where first responders might be most urgently needed following an earthquake.
“Our AI-based technology will assign a unique, verified ‘digital fingerprint’ to every natural or manmade element from the smallest rock to complete structures to mega cities and eventually, the entire planet,” Wani wrote in the post. “One Concern will provide insights across the entire time horizon — whether it’s days before a flood, minutes after an earthquake, or forward-looking policy and planning.”
The $20 million total on the funding round is relatively large for a gov tech company — among the Series A rounds Government Technology has tracked this year, only Neighborly’s $25 million bundle in May surpassed it. Most of the other Series A rounds were closer to $10 million.
The funding round was led by New Enterprise Associates and brings the company’s total funding amount to $22.6 million.
