RapidSOS Raised $85M to Expand the World’s First Emergency Response Data Platform

RapidSOS, the company that created the world’s first emergency response data platform, announced on February 9th that it had raised $85M in Series C funding led by global venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners, bringing its total funding to $200 million.

The RapidSOS Platform powers 4,800+ Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs) across the US, covering 92% of the population, through over 350 million devices, recognized as RapidSOS Ready, able to transmit real-time location, health, and medical data,  alarm and connected building data in case of emergency.

2020 saw an unprecedented need for emergency response

This past year really highlighted how important a faster and more effective emergency response is. The need for critical, life-saving data was crucial last year and still is since the world faced emergencies nobody could have predicted and prepared for, including the COVID-19 pandemic, several natural disasters, and domestic threats like the Christmas Day Nashville bombing.

“2020 reminded all of us of the heroic work that first responders do in our most challenging moments,” said Michael Martin, founder & CEO of RapidSOS. “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.” 

How the new funds will be used to advance the platform

The new funding RapidSOS has acquired supports its mission to link connected devices to first responders globally, thus creating a life-saving safety net based on digital health, to be used when we most need it. For example, the RapidSOS Platform connects data from the following sources with 911 and first responders in an emergency: crash impact and occupant data from connected vehicles, critical health and medical information from medical profiles, wearables, and mobile devices, and alarm information, address, sensor data, and multimedia from connected buildings. With the support of Insight Partners and existing investors, RapidSOS intends to further its partnership with first responders worldwide, providing the necessary support for their life-saving work, by acquiring and collecting critical data from hundreds of millions of devices.

“Insight has a history of backing category-defining companies, and RapidSOS has all the makings of one in the emergency response space,” said Nikitas Koutoupes, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “We are excited to have our team of software ScaleUp and platform experts helps drive RapidSOS’s mission.”

Healthcare-related big data, a growing global market

As with any other area of our life, data and its management are very important when our health is concerned. Global big data in the healthcare market is expected to reach $34.27 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 22.07%. This means acquiring, collecting, and interpreting all this data to improve healthcare and emergency response is more significant every day. Wearable devices got smaller and smaller, becoming an everyday commodity, and developers are doing their best to improve both their aspects and performances.  With heart and respiratory diseases being among the most frequent causes of death, understanding how they affect the heart and lungs is key to finding better cures. Today, heart monitors are stylish, small, packed with cutting-edge features, and can do much more than monitor your heart rate. Most of them record your heart data, making it easy to share it with doctors, nutritionists, or fitness instructors. Data collected through digital step trackers could help with the care of patients with respiratory disease symptoms.

Sharing data in case of emergency – crucial to first responders

The emergency response system was built on the limited context a phone call can provide, which often delays dispatch and under-informs first responders. RapidSOS delivers critical, real-time data to 911 to empower smarter and faster emergency response.

In the case of the RapidSOS, data from its Platform was used in over 150 million emergencies during the calendar year (on average, 400,000+ per day), in certain cases becoming the critical link between citizens and first responders when traditional voice 911 circuits were not operational during major natural disasters or attacks. 

Given the global pandemic we have all been facing, RapidSOS strived to improve and accelerate the connectivity between health data and 911. Now, according to the company, millions of people throughout the US can share important medical information with 911 through the Medical ID feature on an iPhone. After the feature is set up by the user, the information is automatically shared upon making an emergency call or using the Emergency SOS feature, where it is available. 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.

About RapidSOS

In partnership with public safety, RapidSOS has created the world’s first emergency response data platform that securely links life-saving data from 350M+ connected devices to emergency services and first responders. Through the platform, RapidSOS provides intelligent data that supports over 4,800 Emergency Communications Centers worldwide, across 150 million emergencies in 2020. Together with innovative companies recognized as RapidSOS Ready, RapidSOS is supporting first responders in saving millions of lives annually.

About Insight Partners

Insight is a leading software investor with over $30B AUM after announcing its 11th flagship fund, Fund XI at $9.5B in April, 2020. The leading global venture capital and private equity firm invests in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create an opportunity for all.