If you call 911 from a hard-to-reach area, you may hear the drone fuss before the police cruiser rises up. And it could be created by Brinth Drones, a Seattle-based startup founded by 25-year-old Blake Restnik.
BRINC, founded in 2017 and counts Openai CEO Sam Altman as a seed stage investor, announced today it has raised $75 million in new funding, led by Index Ventures.
This brings the startup’s total funding to $157.2 million. Although Brinc has not disclosed an accurate rating, Resnick told TechCrunch it was an “upround” compared to the recent round of 2022’s $55 million Series B. BRINC was valued at $300 million in 2023, Bloomberg reported.
BRINC sells a variety of drone systems to police and public safety agencies. This is part of a broader trend in US drone startups manufactured domestically as restrictions on Chinese companies dominate the commercial drone industry are increasing. (Resnick temporarily interns with DJI, much more China’s biggest player, a few years before establishing BRINC.)
With this funding, BRINC has launched a “strategic alliance” with Motorola Solutions, which has also invested in the round. Motorola Solutions is a giant in the US security industry, and its software runs many 911 call centers. This partnership will integrate BRINC drones directly into these centers, allowing operators to dispatch drones for specific emergency calls if cleared by existing Motorola AI systems.
However, BRINC is in a highly competitive area with other US startups such as Flock Safety and Skydio. Each provides drones to police and has a multi-billion dollar valuation. Flock existed at $7.5 billion in its latest round last month, while Skydio was valued at $2.2 billion in 2023.
As for competition, Resnick told TechCrunch that there is plenty of room for growth in a Chinese player-dominated market. Beyond Motorola’s partnership, BRINC says it offers a share of unique features, including its ability to break windows and provide emergency medical devices.
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