Prepared has raised $27 million in a Series B round as it works to modernize how 911 dispatchers receive information during emergencies. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and brings the company’s total raised to $57 million.
The company’s pitch is direct: emergency calls can move faster when dispatchers have more context. Prepared gives 911 centers tools to receive a caller’s real-time GPS location when the phone supports it, exchange texts and images, and answer video calls on iPhones using Apple’s Emergency SOS Live Video feature.
Why 911 Call Centers Need New Tools
Many emergency call centers in the U.S. still face limits that feel out of step with everyday phone use. According to the source article, a number of 911 centers remain landline-bound, struggle to locate callers, and cannot process SMS or photos.
That gap exists despite Next Generation 911 (NG9 11), a two-decades-old effort to modernize the more than 5,500 emergency call centers in the U.S. NG911 is internet-based and designed to receive multimedia and more accurate caller information.
Deployment, however, is not complete. According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, NG911 deployments have reached about 56.2% of the U.S.
Prepared is building for that unfinished transition. Its web-based platform is meant to give dispatchers more information inside the call workflow, without requiring callers to explain every detail by voice alone.
What Prepared Adds To Emergency Calls
Prepared enables dispatchers to see a running transcript of calls. The platform uses AI to identify possible items of importance, including addresses and descriptions of emergencies, and can translate texts for dispatchers when needed.
The company’s tools are aimed at reducing the amount of time operators spend gathering basic information. Prepared co-founder and CEO Michael Chime told TechCrunch, “The goal of our technology is to reduce the burden of each individual call so that emergency response can move faster.”
He added, “If we can save even a few seconds on a given 911 call, we want to do that.”
Prepared’s core capabilities include:
- Real-time GPS location when the caller’s phone supports it.
- Text and image exchange between dispatchers and callers.
- Video call support on iPhones with Apple’s Emergency SOS Live Video feature.
- Running call transcripts for dispatchers.
- AI tools that can surface possible key details from calls.
The company also recently launched a tool for calls involving Spanish speakers. It transcribes and translates the dispatcher’s speech, then reads the translation aloud over the phone using an AI-generated voice.
Chime said this could reduce the need to conference in a third-party translator, which he described as the typical procedure with non-English callers. He also said agencies have requested this capability because they otherwise rely on translators who can sometimes take several minutes to join a call after a request.
From School Safety App To 911 Platform
Prepared was launched in 2019 by Chime, Dylan Gleicher, and Neal Soni. The company did not begin with a broad 911 call center product.
Its first focus was school shootings. The founders grew up near the sites of devastating school shootings, including Sandy Hook Elementary, and dropped out of Yale together to build a public safety app for school administrators.
After about a year, the founders saw a larger customer segment for the technology: 911 call centers. That realization led Prepared to pivot from a school-focused product to a broader public safety platform.
Today, Prepared says it has deals with close to 1,000 public safety agencies across 49 states. That footprint gives the company a large base for tools that handle emergency call data, multimedia, translation and dispatcher workflows.
The Promise And Risk Of AI In 911
The stakes for 911 technology are unusually high because small changes in timing can matter. According to U.S. regulators, thousands of lives could be saved each year by reducing 911 response times by just a minute.
That is the case for Prepared’s strongest argument: if a platform can help dispatchers find a caller, understand an emergency, or communicate across a language barrier faster, the potential impact is meaningful.
But the same source article also notes risks around AI-powered features. AI can produce incorrect summaries. Speech transcription systems have also been found to perform differently for different speakers. One recent study showed that speech recognition systems from leading tech companies were twice as likely to incorrectly transcribe audio from Black speakers compared to white speakers.
Chime said Prepared’s AI features are optional. He also said the company’s video, GPS location and texting capabilities are free for 911 centers.
He defended the role of AI in public safety, saying Prepared uses it to synthesize data and make it actionable. He pointed to AI-generated summaries that allow dispatchers to read short incident summaries instead of listening to minutes of call audio or reviewing long notes.
The balance is clear: Prepared is selling speed, context and accessibility, while emergency agencies must still weigh accuracy and reliability when AI enters the call-taking process.
How Prepared Plans To Use The New Funding
Prepared plans to use the Series B funding for product R&D and go-to-market efforts. The company also plans to increase hiring.
Prepared currently has a 50-person, New York-based workforce and aims to add 20 staffers by the end of the year. First Round Capital, M13 and undisclosed angel investors also participated in the Series B.
Chime described a broader ambition for the platform, saying the company is moving toward connecting and optimizing the workflow from the moment a call arrives until a field responder is on scene.
For 911 centers still working with limited caller data, Prepared’s funding reflects a larger push to make emergency communication look more like the way people already use phones: location-aware, multimedia and, increasingly, assisted by AI.