Public-Purpose Technology Intelligence
Summary
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- Founded in 2017
- Total funding £11 million
- Latest venture round £6.8 million Series A
- Investors include: Kodem Growth, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, Verizon Ventures, 8VC, NFX, Aspect Ventures, OurCrowd
- Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA; Herzliya
- FTEs: 11-50
- Key clients/partners: US air force; DJI
- Key executives: Adam Kaplan, Co-founder & CEO; Menashe Haskin, Co-founder & CTO, previously at Amazon, MSc in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv; Nitay Megides, Co-founder & Director of Platform, MEng in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv.
Profile
Information is key to avoiding disaster: that is why emergency services personnel are given such intensive training, so that in even the most high-stress of situations they can gather the information that they need to act. But in the chaos of a disaster area or a warzone, it can be difficult to access this information. Recently, some emergency crews have started exploring the use of augmented reality (AR) to more rapidly and reliably understand disaster scenes.
Edgybees began life as a gaming company that used AR to create realistic graphics. It subsequently began using drones and automated video analytics to capture live feeds of disaster situations overlaid with geo-information, including maps, building layouts, points of interest, and user-generated markers. It allows first responders to get a detailed overview of a disaster and make their decisions accordingly through enabling real-time situational awareness.
When Edgybees was founded, investors were increasingly sceptical of AR, which was sometimes regarded as something of a gimmick when marketed to the general public. However, there has been growing interest in AR for more targeted, professional purposes. The organisation Forensic Architecture, for example, uses it to reconstruct crime scenes and incidents of state violence. Edgybees stands to profit from this growing awareness of the potential applications of VR.
Plans
- Further develop its Argus AR software for use by the military, agricultural companies and emergency services
- Market its technology to oil refineries, using AR to monitor on-site safety.
Who Should Speak To This Company
Emergency services
Company In Action
In 2017, the Florida Keys suffered serious flooding in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The floodwaters obscured roads and landmarks, making it difficult for the emergency services to navigate settlements looking for survivors in need of rescue. Edgybees drones were able to project map information and details of rescue teams on to a live overhead feed of the disaster site, helping the rescue teams to orientate themselves.
StateUp View
Edgybees has quickly made waves with a number of high-profile successes. In its first two years, it was used to combat wildfires in northern California and flooding in hurricane-stricken Florida. As well as natural disasters, the tech has been used to help firefighters, ambulances and police, suggesting a multiplicity of public safety use cases.
Edgybees recently secured a £950 million award from the US air force, largely to improve the visual technology of its drone programme. In a political context increasingly uncertain about the ethics of drone warfare, Edgybees submits that its technology is used only to keep soldiers out of the firing line, not to attack targets.
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