Intelligent safety startup RapidSOS Inc. said today it has closed on a hefty $75 million round of funding that brings its total amount raised to more than $250 million.

Today’s round was led by NightDragon and included participation from a host of other investors, including BAM Elevate, Insight Partners, Honeywell, M12 Microsoft’s Venture Fund, Axon, Citi via the Citi Impact Fund, Highland Capital Partners, Playground Global, Forte Ventures, C5 Capital and Avanta Ventures.

RapidSOS is the creator of an “intelligent safety” platform that helps emergency response workers with important data that comes from devices such as smart watches, which can detect when the person wearing it falls down, smart cars that can pinpoint their exact location, and smart home systems that can provide detailed information on a house fire, for example.

The startup works with device and software makers and takes the data points created by their gadgets and services. It then applies some data science wizardry before making that information available to emergency response centers, helping them better coordinate and organize their response and rescue efforts.

Sitting at the heart of RapidSOS’s platform is an application programming interface that’s available to technology, insurance and healthcare firms. These customers can use the API to channel data and direct voice connections between their users and emergency responders.

RapidSOS essentially provides a kind of continuous monitoring service that can assist emergency responders in almost any kind of situation. So it’s not just for things like natural disasters, but also for vulnerable individuals, home security, fires, vehicle crash detection, enterprise security, personal safety and critical event management.

It’s a comprehensive service that requires some learning, which is why RapidSOS provides more than 20,000 hours of training annually to “tens of thousands” of first responders, helping them understand emergency workflows and identity technologies. In turn, this collaboration has led to the development of multifactor authentication and rich data amplification solutions that enable teams to respond faster and more effectively to various kinds of emergency situations.

RapidSOS said today’s funding comes in the wake of the busiest year in the company’s history which saw it support a record number of emergencies. So far this year, RapidSOS claims to have assisted responders in more than 130 million emergencies globally. RapidSOS counts more than 90 technology firms, 50 public safety software vendors and over 15,000 first-responder agencies across four continents as its customers.

“For a decade, we’ve had the privilege to learn from our nation’s first responders to build technology that supports their life-saving work,” said RapidSOS founder and Chief Executive Michael Martin. “Hundreds of millions of lives are impacted each year by the heroism of these individuals, and we’re honored to have partners in this journey that share in a vision to transform safety, security and emergency response.”

Photo: Randgruppe/Pixabay