NEW YORK — Carbyne, a next-generation provider of public safety communications, has secured an undisclosed investment from AT&T Ventures. The investment follows a successful launch of the relationship between AT&T and Carbyne, which was announced in June.
AT&T has invested alongside existing investors Cox Enterprises (through Socium Ventures), Hanaco Growth, GMR International., Former CIA Director General David Petraeus, General Global Capital, and Material V.
“In 2023, Carbyne experienced transformative growth in the U.S.,” said Amir Elichai, Carbyne CEO. “Our success is not just in numbers; we’ve actively shaped the future of emergency services. As we transition into 2024, we will build upon this momentum by working alongside innovative providers like AT&T.”
“AT&T Ventures is investing in disruptive companies that are developing advanced connectivity solutions to drive innovation forward,” said Vikram Taneja, Head of AT&T Ventures. “We are excited about our relationship with Carbyne and their cloud-native call-handling solution. We recognize the importance of innovation in supporting emergency response systems to help safeguard lives and communities.”
“The best investments deliver instant solutions to everyday challenges — and that’s exactly what Carbyne does,” said Andrew Davis, Managing Partner, Socium Ventures. “Streamlining communications at critical moments saves lives. That makes a huge difference for people, families, and communities as a whole. We’re looking forward to helping Carbyne continue to grow, scale, and evolve as a business so that they can make an even bigger impact in the future.”
The Public Safety market has recently seen significant investment as companies aim to innovate in a sector experiencing positive macro trends in funding and becoming increasingly receptive to cloud-native technologies, enabling them to capture the rapidly growing value of AI. Carbyne’s vision is to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar emergency services industry, by becoming the trusted central hub of mission-critical communications, powered by AI-based innovation and data ownership. Cloud-native emergency call handling specifically offers numerous advantages, including affordability, agility, redundancy, and security. Furthermore, it enables the integration of AI-based capabilities such as real-time call translation and call triaging, critical features that enable PSAPs to quickly handle calls in multiple languages and prioritize incoming calls based on urgency. AT&T aims to provide these capabilities to its broad customer base by working with Carbyne, which has set a long-term goal of reducing dispatch time by up to 50%.
“We are incredibly excited to strengthen our relationship with AT&T, a company with a tremendous footprint dedicated to bringing innovation to the public safety market,” said Elichai of Carbyne. “We see AT&T’s investment as an additional vote of confidence in Carbyne. With AT&T, we have the opportunity to distribute our innovative products on a significantly larger scale while strategically working on the next Carbyne products. More to come.”
AT&T is already focused on reselling two distinct Carbyne offerings intended for emergency call takers:
- Carbyne APEX is a unified emergency call management solution designed to streamline emergency response by consolidating various AI-based and rich media data points into a single, intuitive platform. By incorporating video, photos, geolocation, AI-based features like audio translation, and emergency call triage, APEX provides call takers with all the information they need at their fingertips, allowing them to focus on addressing the emergency at hand rather than struggling with complex technology. This cloud-native, i3-compliant platform is user-friendly and seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure, ensuring that call takers can efficiently manage and respond to emergencies while minimizing the learning curve often associated with new technology.
- Carbyne Universe offers a versatile over-the-top (OTT) solution that enables access to a wealth of AI-based and rich media functionality without disrupting existing contractual agreements. Designed to function seamlessly within any environment, Carbyne Universe provides PSAPs with valuable data, such as video, photos, and geolocation, enhancing their decision-making capabilities and response efficiency. This flexible solution ensures that PSAPs can benefit from advanced emergency call management and related mapping features before completing their current contracts or undertaking major infrastructural changes.
