Founded in 2019, Prepared has raised about $57 million.
This Series B investment will go toward the company’s general goal of using artificial intelligence to boost the efficiency of 911 call responses, according to a statement from Prepared. More specifically, the company plans to “double down our investments in R&D,” among other work, Prepared CEO Michael Chime told Government Technology via email.
AI is not only among the main focus areas for Andreessen Horowitz but an increasing part of the public safety tech world and a driver of ongoing investment there.
Andreessen also took part in Prepared’s previous $16 million funding round.
Chime said the ongoing participation of Andreessen signals the “importance and urgency” of building better public safety tools, and a bet that the company will continue to grow in this crowded part of the larger government technology industry.
An executive from Andreessen Horowitz echoed those remarks.
“Rapid response is critical for crime mitigation and emergency response — yet local departments have historically lacked the modern tooling to meet the needs of their citizens,” said David Ulevitch, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, in the statement. “In a short amount of time, Prepared has built and deployed an innovative solution — at scale — that can extend the efficiencies of first responders and empower and protect the local communities they serve.”
Prepared works with about 1,000 agencies, and reports that its technology serves one-third of the U.S. population.
The company sells 911 livestreaming tools and recently released two-way audio translation, which can help with calls that involve people for whom English is not their native language.
A Prepared blog about the new funding round from Chime described his vision of what the company is trying to achieve — goals that reflect wider trends in public safety tech and traits that are attracting investors to the space.
Those goals include real-time translation, making sure that every emergency call taker has an “intelligent assistant by their side,” using video, pictures and texts to help first responders deal with emergencies, and handling large-scale emergencies with “organized, data-driven action that turns potential chaos into coordinated, effective responses.”
Prepared said that 80 percent of 911 calls made in the U.S. come from wireless devices, though most 911 call centers still use “landline technology,” underscoring the tech challenges and opportunities in the space.
“We are bullish about continued investments in public safety,” Chime told Government Technology. “We will be laser-focused on execution, including growing our team, expanding our reach and realizing our vision for public safety through the power of assistive AI.”
