NTT DOCOMO Ventures Invests in US-based Public Safety Technology Company RapidSOS, Inc.

TOKYO – NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yuko Sasahara, President & CEO; hereinafter “NDV”), has invested, through its fund, in RapidSOS, Inc. (Head office: New York, USA; CEO: Michael Martin; hereinafter “RapidSOS”), a US-based technology company, who, in partnership with public safety, has created the world’s first emergency response data platform that securely links life-saving data from 450 million connected devices to emergency call operators and first responders. RapidSOS’s technology is used by 5,200 public safety agencies across the United States, covering more than 95% of the population, and the company is expanding its footprint internationally into Canada, Mexico, the UK, and soon Japan and Asia.

Today, emergency telecommunicators and first responders do extraordinary work managing over one billion emergencies globally each year, despite having little more than a voice connection to the caller in an emergency. The result is that despite the abundance of data from connected vehicles, digital health devices, smart phones, and connected buildings, telecommunicators often struggle to even know the caller’s name or precise location.

RapidSOS developed the world’s first emergency response data platform. RapidSOS’ platform allows connected devices to transfer real-time data (e.g. location, vehicle telematics, connected building data, real-time health information, etc.) to telecommunicators and first responders in an emergency, providing situational awareness and critical data such as the location and severity of the emergency. RapidSOS also allows application developers to build customizable emergency response features that can connect directly to first responders or 24/7 professional monitoring agents. Today over 65 leading technology companies provide critical data from over 450 million devices to 911 and first responders in an emergency through RapidSOS.

“RapidSOS was built on partnerships, whether that be with thousands of public safety agencies or leading technology companies,” said Michael Martin, co-founder and CEO of RapidSOS. “NTT Docomo is no exception. As we continue to expand our footprint internationally, including in Japan and across Asia, we are excited to work with a company that shares our mission to use technology to transform emergency response and save lives.”

NTT DOCOMO and NTT Group are building an “Innovation Co-Creation Platform” to leverage our technical assets and data to realize a wellbeing society, including smart city development. Currently, RapidSOS and NTT DOCOMO are working on the technical verification of integrating RapidSOS’ platform with this Innovation Co-Creation Platform and existing mobile network.