Prepared Response, a Seattle-based crisis management and emergency preparedness company, has raised $6.3 million out of an $8.7 million equity offering, according to a regulatory filing today.
Most of the money came from angel investors with the rest by Benaroya Capital. The money will be used to develop the company’s software products, as well as expand the company’s sales and marketing reach overseas, says CEO Jim Finnell.
Prepared Response was founded in 2000, partly in response to the Columbine high school shooting in 1999. The company’s founders recognized that police, fire, and medical responders would be better equipped if they had more information at their fingertips about building layouts and better communication systems. The company has developed two software programs to aid first responders and anyone in the neighborhood who needs to be made aware of an active emergency.
“You need to have a plan before you go into battle,” Finnell says.
The first program enables first responders to get information about a building from architectural plans, photos of the building and satellite images. The other program provides information about what to do in emergencies and enables building owners to alert people who need to know about the emergency–tenants or students for instance and helps advise them what they should do.
Along with the two programs, Prepared Response consults and teaches people about how to plan for almost any contingency.
The company’s board includes Ralph Munro, the former Washington secretary of state. Prepared Response says its products and consulting services are being used in 20 states, among about 600 public safety agencies.