We don’t live in a perfect world, but efforts are constantly being made to improve it. An Atlanta-based company is behind some of those efforts, using cloud-based tech to make neighborhoods safer for those who live there. Less than a year after its previous raise, security unicorn Flock Safety announced this week a $150 million Series E round to expand its security hardware solutions.
The company operates a network of cameras, sensors and other devices with capabilities like capturing clear license plate images of vehicles moving up to 75 mph. Its cameras are able to capture other characteristics of vehicles such as make and color, but they are not equipped with technology to recognize people, and don’t capture photos of random passers-by, according to the company. Serving homeowners associations, police departments, businesses and property managers as customers, the company aims to capture objective evidence to help police solve crime.
“One of the things that’s super special about Flock is we’re disrupting an industry that has been relatively untouched for a while,” Aynn Collins, director of talent acquisition at Flock Safety, told Built In back in October. “It’s a platform that helps people that have very hard jobs and really makes the community safer.”
Rather than fear of lengthy or severe repercussions, people are more often deterred from committing crimes if they have a higher chance of getting caught, according to Flock Safety. Active in 1,500 cities across the U.S., the company hopes its products will work to prevent crime in addition to the approximately 500 cases the company says it helps solve every day.
That number is a significant increase over the company’s total last year, when its average daily number of solved crimes stood at about 185. Over the same span of time, Flock Safety also grew its internal headcount by 225 to 350 and added a new product to its offerings. Its recently released Raven product is an audio device that can discern the sound of gunshots, breaking glass and tire screeches and consolidate that evidence for law enforcement.
Having worked to reduce crime in places like Marietta as well as cities in Texas, Rhode Island, Florida and more, Flock Safety is dedicating its latest round of funding to cities that could largely benefit from its solution. The company is continuing to expand its business as it works toward its ambitious goal of reducing crime in America by 25 percent over the next three years.
“We’re hiring hardware and software engineers to build devices and sensors that capture more types of evidence like gunshots or illegal street racing, full-time technicians to accelerate installation and maintenance of those devices and leaders in supply chain, logistics, marketing, and government affairs,” Garrett Langley, Flock Safety’s CEO, said in a company blog post.
Though it’s based in Atlanta, Flock Safety is remote-first and has several available roles listed spanning engineering, operations, sales and other departments.
Tiger Global led the funding round, which brought the company’s post-money valuation to $3.5 billion. Additional participating investors, according to Crunchbase data, included Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Meritech and Initialized Capital, among others.
