7. Flock Safety
Flock Safety, a police tech company from Atlanta, kicked off intense competition in the crime-fighting business this year. Flock Safety sells surveillance technology, including light-post mounted cameras, license plate reading systems, and drones, to police departments, private sector companies and communities concerned about crime.
Flock Safety says its technology was used in 10% of all successful crime investigations in the country, and in the successful recovery of more than 1,000 missing persons. Recently, its system was used to help find a missing person with dementia in Indianola, Iowa, after an alert from a license plate camera. In another success story, Flock helped track down an armed man in New Mexico, who was wanted on suspicion of a shooting in Oklahoma.
Flock has a new coffer to help its growth: It recently announced a $275 million round and 2024 revenue of $300 million, a 70% year-over-year increase. With investors including Tiger Global, a16z, and Matrix Partners, Flock Safety's scale and growth position it for an IPO within the next few years. In October 2024, Flock Safety acquired Aerodome, a pioneer in DFR technology for aerial surveillance; it plans to build a 100,000 square foot drone manufacturing facility in Atlanta.
It is not just police departments using the technology. Flock Safety says it now works with seven of the 10 largest shopping malls in the U.S., and 10 out of 40 of the largest U.S. health-care providers. It continues to add customers from the public sector, last year bringing on major U.S. cities and state agencies as new customers, including Hempstead, NY, San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; and the California Highway Patrol.
The established player in its industry is Axon, a publicly held company founded in 1993. With annual revenue over $2 billion and America's highest-paid CEO, according to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis, Axon is known for its Taser technology. But Axon is now following Flock Safety's lead, recently announcing that it is adding light post-hung video surveillance cameras and drones. It also announced a new collaboration with Amazon's camera company Ring.
The competition may come down to which company – others compete in the space as well, including Verkada, a Silicon Valley startup with a valuation of $4.5 billion, according to PitchBook – can spread the widest and easiest-to-use surveillance net that integrates information across public and private sectors and across America's fractured municipal police system.
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