Latest news with #PaigeTodd
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Surveillance tech company Flock Safety opens offices in Boston
The Boston office, opened Tuesday, is Flock's first expansion outside of its home in Atlanta. The new office will focus on sales and engineering. Advertisement Flock's co-founder and chief people officer Paige Todd said that opening a new location in Seaport was an easy decision. The company recently hired senior sales officers from Boston, who advocated for an office in the city. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Flock Safety co-founder and chief people officer Paige Todd AMY JONATHAN EAKIN_ Boston, they said, offered its access to university graduates and technology partners, especially in artificial intelligence and engineering. Flock's largest rival, the taser maker Axon, also opened an office in Boston last year. 'It's always a good sign to see a company is choosing to expand in Boston,' Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce spokesperson Casey Baines said in an interview. 'Our talent and workforce is going to benefit.' Flock was founded in 2017 by Georgia Tech alums, Garrett Langley, and Matt Feury, and Todd, initially building surveillance cameras by hand. The company later created a platform that centralizes data collected from Flock's cameras and makes the data easy to share with other user Advertisement Donald Maye, head of operations at the tech research company IPVM, said Flock has modeled its technology after social media platforms, which become more powerful as more users join. More than 5,000 law enforcement agencies use Flock's platform, according to the company. 'They aggressively invest in sales and marketing,' Maye said. 'They used the engine of developing relationships with police departments and using those relationships to sell other police departments.' Flock's ALPR cameras are scattered across the state and country and are monitored by local law enforcement agencies. Those agencies can 'opt-in' to share or receive data from other agencies — including from other states — creating a 'network' of centralized license plate data. Flock says the system automatically erases that data after 30 days, although it may keep it for further investigations. Flock provides flexibility to how law enforcements choose to use the technology, Todd said. If an agency decides it wants data to be erased after seven days, it could change the settings to do so. Agencies can also opt-in for a 'transparency portal,' a public webpage with general information on the agency's use of Flock devices, such as how many cameras they use and how many motor vehicles are logged in each month. Some agencies also allow access to their audit logs, which show each time an officer looks up information in the Flock system. Todd said Flock is aware of the controversial aspect of their products. Advertisement 'It is a daily conversation,' Todd said. 'How do we ensure privacy is protected while also giving law enforcement the tools they need to solve crime?' The American Civil Liberties Union calls the technology's ability to track every person regardless of whether they committed a crime unconstitutional. Without clear state policies, law enforcement agencies can abuse the centralized system, said Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at ACLU Massachusetts. Officers with access to the system can search for any license plate they desire, even without a warrant. Officers could use the system to track women who travel out-of-state to seek abortion care, look up undocumented individuals, or even — as in one reported case — track an ex-wife, said Crockford. 'Privacy is not controversial,' said Crockford. 'I have no problems with companies doing business in Boston. I just want to make sure that lawmaking and public policy is done in the interest of residents and the public.' Flock has recently expanded its products beyond its cameras. It also developed gunshot sound detection sensors and in April invested in a drone system to aid in car pursuits. Todd said the company is looking to collaborate with other tech companies in Boston as it continues to grow. In New England, only Massachusetts and Rhode Island are without laws regulating the use of license plate recognition systems. Earlier this year, state Representative Steven Owens, Democrat of Watertown, filed the Drivers Privacy Act, which would limit how long data could be stored and prevent agencies from tracking activity protected by the First Amendment. Yogev Toby can be reached at
CNBC
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
7. Flock Safety
Founders: Garrett Langley (CEO), Paige Todd, Matt Feury, Bailey QuintrellLaunched: 2017Headquarters: Atlanta, GeorgiaFunding: $957.5 million (PitchBook)Valuation: $7.5 billion (PitchBook)Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, edge computing, machine learning, Internet of ThingsIndustry: Public safety, defensePrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 0 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.
