Data-driven emergency response platform RapidSOS announced this week the close of an $85 million Series C funding round led by Insight Partners.

With this, the company has raised about $200 million from investors to date.

WHAT IT DOES

RapidSOS aims to provide emergency responders with accurate, real-time health and location data before they arrive on the scene.

The company's platform collects a range of data from smartphones and other connected devices, ranging from wearables to motor vehicles and nearby surveillance systems. The company delivers the information to the emergency communication centers that coordinate emergency calls.

This approach allows, for instance, car crash responders to know the number of occupants to look for in each vehicle, or emergency medical services to know where in a large building to find a patient, and what recorded health conditions could be relevant to the situation.

RapidSOS' technology integrates with public safety agencies' systems to fit into their existing workflow. According to the company, its platform is currently in use among more than 4,800 emergency communications centers across the U.S., and is in position to support the coverage of more than 300 million people. So far, its system is integrated with more than 350 million data-collecting devices.

"2020 reminded all of us of the heroic work that first responders do in our most challenging moments," said Michael Martin, founder and CEO of RapidSOS, in a statement. "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." 

WHAT IT'S FOR

The company said that this $85 million will not only help it continue linking with more connected devices, systems and software, but also support partnerships with worldwide first-responder organizations.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Public and private partners have highlighted the benefits smart devices and integrated data-streams can provide not just individuals, but also community-wide public services.

With that in mind, it's unsurprising that RapidSOS has brought in a steady stream of funding over the last few years: It secured $21 million from Transformation Capital and others last summer, $25 million from Energy Impact Partners in late 2019 and $30 million headed by Playground Global in 2018.

Israel-based Carbyne is another startup that raised funding at the head of the year for a similar emergency response data platform. In fact, RapidSOS and Carbyne have worked together in the past to aggregate their response data so that responders can provide more meaningful support during an emergency.