ShotSpotter, Inc., the world leader in gunshot location systems (GLS) and technology for public safety and the military, announces the completion of their $12 million Series C round of funding. This round will allow ShotSpotter to further solidify its market dominance in the public safety market and accelerate market expansion in the military sector.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (BusinessWire EON) June 5, 2007 --
ShotSpotter, Inc., the world
leader in gunshot location systems (GLS) and technology for public
safety and the military, announces the completion of their $12 million
Series C round of funding. This round will allow ShotSpotter to further
solidify its market dominance in the public safety market and accelerate
market expansion in the military sector.
Levensohn Venture Partners (www.levp.com)
of San Francisco, CA, led the round and was joined by Labrador
Ventures and existing investors Claremont
Creek Ventures, City Light Capital, which jointly led the company’s
Series B financing, and Lauder
Partners, which led the company’s Series A
financing in 2004. Pascal Levensohn of Levensohn Partners and Stuart
Davidson of Labrador Ventures join the seven-member ShotSpotter board of
directors.
With more than fifteen operational systems in place today and steady
expansion of existing implementations, the dominance of ShotSpotter in
the public safety market is clear. In addition, recent contracts with
the US Department of Defense in the military market further validate the
importance of this technology for the military. The entry of two new
intuitional investors and the continued support of existing investors in
this substantial financing round attest to the Company’s
continued business progress.
“I’ve never invested
in a company before where people marched in the streets to get their
cities to buy the company’s product as
occurred earlier this year. We are impressed with ShotSpotter’s
business momentum. The ShotSpotter solution saves lives and materially
reduces urban gunfire where it is deployed. The company’s
potential to achieve similar results in the military market
is substantial and validated by years of success in the public safety
market across the United States,” said Pascal
Levensohn, Managing Director of Levensohn Venture Partners.
ShotSpotter Hits the Target
“ShotSpotter has hit the target with
its unique technology for public safety which has been embraced by law
enforcement and homeland security officials across the country,”
according to new board member Stuart Davidson. “The
team has strong leadership and a vision for how they can transform
public safety in the coming years with their proprietary technology.”
ShotSpotter has been delivering patented, state-of-the-art gunshot
location and detection systems for more than ten years. Agencies using
the ShotSpotter GLS have reported that gunfire-related arrests increase
by 50%, violent crime rates drop by at least 30%, and gunfire rates have
dropped dramatically, by as much as 60-80% depending on the location of
the system. The US military has used ShotSpotter systems in Iraq.
“This round of funding provides us the funds
to capitalize on the momentum we are building in the marketplace and
further solidify our market leadership position,”
said James G. Beldock, ShotSpotter President and CEO. “As
we build out our presence in the military market, we are excited to have
the support of investors who bring deep contacts and insights into the
military and pubic safety markets that complement our team.”
In addition to providing real-time notification of gunshot events,
complete with an audio file of the event, ShotSpotter captures
information that can be used for subsequent detailed forensic and
intelligence analysis of events. Such information can include weapon
type and direction of fire analysis, and even information on drive-by
shooters on the move. In addition, ShotSpotter GLS interoperates with
camera and surveillance systems, crime analysis tools and other
dispatching technologies.
About City Light Capital
City Light Capital is a money management and business development firm
based in Greenwich, CT. The firm has partnered with operating
companies in security, energy and media that provide complementary
strengths, such as domain expertise, testing and business development
relationships. City Light's portfolio companies include Arxceo,
Rotomotion, Cross Match and ShotSpotter.
About Claremont Creek Ventures (www.claremontvc.com)
Based in Oakland, CA, Claremont
Creek Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage
information technology companies, particularly in the San Francisco Bay
Area. The firm’s three principals are all
experienced managers and proven venture investors, and share a deep
commitment to helping entrepreneurs build successful companies from the
ground up. They focus on IT sectors where they have deep domain
expertise, including – but not limited to –
mobility, healthcare and security markets.
About Labrador Ventures (www.labrador.com)
Labrador Ventures,
founded in 1989, is one of the oldest, premier seed stage funds in
Silicon Valley. With over $200 million under management, Labrador has
invested in more than 90 companies over the last 17 years, helping
transform the way we work, communicate and transact business. Labrador
invests in software, communications/networking, messaging,
semiconductors and information services.
About Lauder Partners (www.lauderpartners.com)
Lauder Partners is a
Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that has invested in over 60
private companies over the past 22 years. Areas of investment specialty
include cable/IPTV/TV-related technologies and Internet/web/telecom
spaces, but occasionally include great companies that defy traditional
classification such as ShotSpotter. For more information, please visit http://www.lauderpartners.com.
About Levensohn Venture Partners (www.levp.com)
Levensohn Venture Partners (LVP) is
an early stage venture capital firm investing in information technology
companies. The firm targets companies that have completed their initial
product development and established early customer and revenue
traction. Founded in 1996, LVP’s
portfolio companies include Akros Silicon, Atheros, BigFix, Broadlogic,
Capella, KnowNow, Rapt, Reconnex, Ubicom, and Veraz Networks. For more
information, please visit http://www.levp.com.
About ShotSpotter, Inc. (www.shotspotter.com)
ShotSpotter, Inc., the leading
developer of gunshot location systems and technology, is based in Santa
Clara, CA. ShotSpotter’s flagship
product, which detects gunfire across large urban areas using a small
number of inexpensive and easy-to-deploy sensors, currently protects the
citizens of cities nationwide, from Los Angeles, CA to Washington,
DC. Its products assisted the FBI and the Franklin County Sheriff’s
Office in identifying and capturing the Columbus, OH highway sniper
suspect. In 2000, ShotSpotter was honored for its technology vision and
leadership when got won the Computerworld Smithsonian Laureate Award,
having been nominated by William H. Gates, chairman and chief software
architect of Microsoft Corporation, and the Smithsonian added its
technology to the museum’s permanent
collection. With technology covered by numerous patents, the company
offers products to the law enforcement, homeland security and military
markets. ShotSpotter technology has consistently produced arrests and
weapons confiscations nationwide and has helped reduce gunfire and crime
rates in cities that deploy it.
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