Big-four bank Nedbank has made an undisclosed equity investment in RapidDeploy, a technology-driven emergency response platform. According to the bank, it is the first South African company to invest in RapidDeploy, which was founded in South Africa after its founders witnessed the outdated, legacy technology available in the country’s public safety sector.
RapidDeploy raised $12 million (R169 million) in a series of investments in 2019. GreatPoint Ventures and Samsung NEXT Ventures participated in a fundraising round.
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The company offers a cloud-based call-taking and computer-aided dispatch platform that seeks to cut response times and simplify the complexity of emergency dispatch.
Using the internet of things; cloud computing, mobility, and online mapping mobile field service apps; and advanced incident management capabilities, the system delivers accurate address localization, enhanced situational awareness, and allocation of suitable resources for optimized response.
Nedbank states in a statement that Raucher suffered a personal tragedy when his brother killed at sea, and that he volunteered for the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa to honor him.
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This is when he realized that the present emergency instruments were insufficient to respond to people and ultimately save lives in a timely and effective manner.
Meyerowitz, according to the bank, came to the same conclusion as a volunteer paramedic around the same time, and RapidDeploy was created with the primary goal of saving lives through faster reaction times.
According to Johann Van Zyl, head principal and alternative investment at Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, the bank’s decision to invest in RapidDeploy was based on a strong alignment between the company’s innovation-driven business model and Nedbank’s policy of investing in businesses and technologies that can deliver a sustainable positive impact.
Van Zyl explains why Nedbank recognizes there is much more to technology than facilitating client connection and company development. “The fact that the RapidDeploy technology is practically saving lives demonstrates that this venture capital technology investment furthers Nedbank’s mission to use its financial expertise for good.”
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Nedbank reports that after relocating its headquarters and principal emphasis to Austin, Texas in the United States, RapidDeploy has collaborated with nine states and countless local emergency communications centres to deliver cutting-edge technology to public safety across the country.
It is noted that stories are frequently received from customers detailing the impact of the technology through specific events in which it has saved lives.
In Kansas, a caller suffered a stroke and was unable to speak; in Navajo County, Arizona, a kidnapping victim was rescued; and in Sarasota County, Florida, a caller was located during a hurricane, among many other riveting customer stories, the report notes.
AT&T announced in 2018 a partnership with RapidDeploy to provide access to RapidDeploy’s cloud-based platform for 911 centers.
Since then, RapidDeploy claims to have recruited a core team of public-safety industry leaders based in the United States, which has prompted the opening of its global headquarters in Austin.
RapidDeploy has also collaborated with Samsung to develop mobile-response technologies.
While headquartered in the United States, Nedbank notes that a portion of RapidDeploy’s engineering and product teams are located in South Africa.
“Nedbank’s investment demonstrates its continuous commitment to teams developing new technology for public safety,” the bank states.
RapidDeploy is now focused on public safety in the United States, but receiving further financing from global corporations opens the door to deploying the technology everywhere in the world, according to the company.
Raucher, co-founder and CEO of RapidDeploy, states, “We are honored that Nedbank has chosen to invest in our company.”
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Nedbank, as our first South African institutional partner, guarantees that we continue to invest in our South African teams and enables us to expand and grow.
Van Zyl notes that the investment in RapidDeploy is consistent with Nedbank’s venture capital goal to invest in and collaborate with category-defining, disruptive technology firms.
“As an on-balance-sheet investor, our approach to venture capital is quite strategic, and we prefer to engage closely with investee firms,” he explains. “Therefore, we anticipate supporting RapidDeploy’s future growth and expansion as opportunities arise, especially since their success and expansion will eventually result in more lives saved.”
The investment by Nedbank and other venture capitalists ensures RapidDeploy can continue to develop the cutting-edge technology necessary to fulfill its aim to save lives with faster reaction times and make a positive impact on communities around the world, the company said.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh