Prepared has now raised more than $130 million as it brings more AI power to 911 operators, part of the nationwide push to upgrade emergency dispatch technology.
Prepared launched in 2019.
This newly completed Series C funding round was led by General Catalyst, with venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, both previous investors, also taking part. Like General Catalyst, Radical Ventures joined the round as a new investor in Prepared.
The company has launched 911 livestreaming tools and two-way audio translation as it touts the ability of its technology to ease the burdens of 911 call takers and help make emergency responses quicker and more efficient.
Increased 911 call volumes and the difficulty of hiring emergency call operators stand as one of the selling points for the company, according to CEO Michael Chime.
As he sees it, AI promises to take on more work in emergency dispatch to help ease those problems, and to better deal with a mobile, digital and multilingual population.
Not only that, he told Government Technology, but “AI can listen to every single call and give you insights about where you are doing well and where you are not doing so great. There are a ton of opportunities like that.”
Even so, he doesn’t expect AI to fully replace human workers at emergency dispatch centers.
“None of these applications remove humans from the loop,” Chime said. “Man and machine, as far back as you can study tech, are better together than they are far apart.”
Prepared says it works with more than 1,000 agencies that together serve about 100 million people in 49 states. Clients include the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, the Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communications and El Paso 911.
