Austin—Emergency messaging provider AlertMedia announced this morning it is taking in $8 million in a Series B round of funding that was led by early stage investor Next Coast Ventures.
The Austin-based startup was founded in 2013 and plans to put the new money toward sales growth and further developing its product, which is software that allows businesses to send and receive messages with both large and small groups, such as customers or employees. The software can help the business communicate to a mass audience using new technological channels, including as text, voice, Slack, and social media, says CEO Brian Cruver.
The company is approaching mass notifications with smartphones in mind, Cruver says. The software allows a customer of AlertMedia to create different groups of people it might want to communicate with—a bank might put all of its customers in one group, while it could divide employees of a specific branch into another, according to an AlertMedia spokeswoman.
“Our much older competitors sell technology that was developed 10-15 years ago, back when emergency notification meant a user, at a desktop terminal, would send out a one-way broadcast,” Cruver wrote in an e-mail. “AlertMedia allows organizations to easily have a two-way conversation with their audience.”
That two-way communication ability means people get confirmation that their messages were read, can take surveys, or submit requests for help, AlertMedia says on its website. The company’s customers include DHL, AT&T, Greyhound, and grocery chain H-E-B.
North Coast Ventures is focused on investing in tech companies that operate in overlooked markets like Boulder, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, and Ann Arbor, MI—not to mention Austin, where it is based and plans to largely keep its focus, as Xconomy reported earlier this year. ATX Seed Ventures also participated in the Series B round. The company has previously received $17 million in venture funding from angel investors and venture firms such as Silverton Partners, AlertMedia said in a news release.
