A company which connects critical life-saving data to first responders within the emergency services is launching in the UK.
US-based RapidSOS has raised $85 million in Series C investment, led by Insight Partners, to scale its emergency response data platform around the globe.
The 90,000 emergency 999 calls made every day in the UK rely on the person dialling to verbally provide information. RapidSOS can provide supplemental data on the emergency and the individual involved direct to the screens in the emergency control centre.
At no cost to the emergency services or the NHS, RapidSOS will deliver real-time information to the 999 system with calls automatically showing the individual’s medical needs via MedicAlert UK ID cards. Further partnerships will be announced in the coming months.
The investment, which brings RapidSOS’s total funding to $200m, will advance the company’s work to connect emergency data from digital health, smart buildings, security, connected vehicles and app companies with first responders globally.
The RapidSOS Platform already powers more than 4,800 emergency communications centers across the US, covering 92% of the population, and is integrated with more than 350 million connected devices.
These devices, recognized as RapidSOS Ready, transmit real-time location, health and medical information, connected building and alarm data and more in an emergency.
“2020 reminded all of us of the heroic work that first responders do in our most challenging moments,” said founder and CEO Michael Martin.
“We spent the past eight years building the RapidSOS emergency response data platform in partnership with thousands of first responders — collaborating with leading technology companies to provide the right data, at the right place, at the right time to save lives across over 150 million emergencies annually.”
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This past year put a spotlight on the importance of faster and more effective emergency response. The need for critical, life-saving data was never more apparent than in 2020 when the world faced unprecedented emergencies including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data from the RapidSOS Platform was used in over 150m emergencies during the calendar year – 400,000+ per day – and in some cases became the critical link between citizens and first responders when traditional voice 911 circuits went down in major disasters or attacks.
Millions of Americans are able to share important medical information with 911 through the Medical ID feature on an iPhone. When a user chooses to set up the feature, the information is shared when making an emergency call or using the Emergency SOS feature in supported regions.
In addition, in collaboration with the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and Direct Relief, RapidSOS launched the Emergency Health Profile, a simple and free way for anyone to share their health data with 911.
Nikitas Koutoupes, managing director at Insight Partners, added: “Insight has a history of backing category-defining companies, and RapidSOS has all the makings of one in the emergency response space.
“We are excited to have our team of software ScaleUp and platform experts help drive RapidSOS’s mission.”
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