Emergency technology is outdated. That idea is the driving motivation that earlier this year led a US House committee to approve a bill that would put $10 billion toward migrating emergency services to Internet-based, next-generation 911 (NG911) technology.
“Communities across the US are experiencing higher levels of emergency calls related to crime, stress and mental health,” said Lior Prosor, founding partner at Hanaco Ventures. “Emergency contact centers and crisis hotlines are under significant stress and need more advanced technology to effectively respond with the right resources to save lives.”
Hanaco is one of the lead investors in the recently-closed $56-million Series C funding round for Carbyne, an emergency technology platform that’s working to refresh, reinvigorate and reinvent the way emergency services work. So far, the company has raised $128m. from a varied group of interested investors.
Israeli firm helps American emergency calls
Using cloud technology, Carbyne is capable of broadening the scope and availability of local emergency response services.
“One of the challenges of the public safety industry is that it is mostly on premise. This can prevent it from adopting the new technologies available to other sectors,” explained Prosor. “We are proud to continue supporting the Carbyne team in their mission to bring cutting edge technologies to [public safety answering points] via the cloud.”
“We’re doing to public safety what Amazon did to on-premises storage. We are redefining how emergency contact centers and government service teams operate by moving everything to the cloud.”
Amir Elichai
Amir Elichai, CEO and founder of Carbyne, elaborated further. “We’re doing to public safety what Amazon did to on-premises storage. We are redefining how emergency contact centers and government service teams operate by moving everything to the cloud,” he said.
“Emergency providers and local governments are using legacy systems to solve modern problems – a declining proposition. They are increasingly recognizing the value that our cloud-based platforms provide to their communities,” Elichai said. “In addition to expanding our footprint in emergency services, we are also seeing new opportunities from businesses in adjacent industries.”
Carbyne’s latest funding round follows a 400% increase in its US revenue and a 185% jump in total contract value over the past 12 months. The company intends to use the money to accelerate the digital transformation of mission-critical operations and government service centers, primarily in the US. It also plans to accelerate its global expansion and continue growing its B2B business, which allows corporations to increase situational awareness and collaborate more efficiently during emergencies.
“Revamping legacy infrastructure in the US is long overdue,” said Davis Roberson, associate vice president of strategy and investments at Cox Enterprises, which contributed to the recent funding. “The technology Carbyne delivers is resilient, interactive and secure. We are looking forward to working with Carbyne to bring this critical technology to more communities and organizations.”