Subscription-based bodycam company Halo has raised $20 million from a US based investor in a Series A funding round that will see the company invest in its expansion in the US and Europe.
The company, which specialises in digital asset management, will also focus on further developing artificial intelligence and analytics for use on its platform. It also plans to grow its team to around 100 by the end of the year.
The funding was led by Volition Capital, a US-based growth equity company. Chief executive Fiona Shanley said the funding round was oversubscribed, but the company had favoured a US-based investor for this round. It brings to $26 million the total funding raised by Halo.
Halo, which was founded in Belfast but has offices in Dublin - where a number of its executive team are based, including Ms Shanley - and the US, has experienced significant growth amid strong demand for its subscription technology. While the body-worn camera technology has its roots in law enforcement, Ms Shanley said there was growing demand from other industries such as retail, healthcare, transportation and private security to safeguard business and staff, defuse potential incidents and provide clear video if something occurs.
“The value is very much around driving positive change, de-escalating, deterring incidents from happening in the first place,” said Ms Shanley. “We work with a number of major transport organisations in the UK, and research over the course of the last five years in the UK shows almost the halving of incidents on transportation when body worn cameras are deployed.”
Halo’s technology captures full HD video and audio, which is uploaded to the company’s digital asset management platform and can be searched, edited, categorised or shared. It meets privacy and data protection requirements across jurisdictions. The company’s chief markets are in the US and UK, but it has customers in 14 countries.
“There are several converging trends driving increased demand, adoption and growth potential of bodycam and digital asset management solutions in the public and private sectors,” said Tomy Han, Volition Capital Partner.
“Technology including hardware and software has become a critical part of safeguarding lives and businesses. The use cases for bodycam solutions have expanded well beyond traditional law enforcement and with its subscription-based SaaS model and experienced leadership team, Halo is well positioned to meet the diverse and flexible needs of these sectors globally.”
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