Mark43 Closes $10.8M A Round

3366720659_b746789dfd_b

Mark43, a law enforcement startup, has closed its Series A funding round on $10.8 million. The round included an investment from the GovTech Fund, a $23 million fund to invest in civic startups and government technology.

This is the fifth investment from the GovTech fund. Other investments include SmartProcure, MindMixer, SeamlessDocs, and AmigoCloud. The round was led by Spark Capital and General Catalyst, and also included an investment from Retired General David Petraeus.

Mark43 is one of the latest entrants into the rapidly growing public safety market. The Mark43 technology provides a cloud-based platform for case management and collaboration within law enforcement. The system is CJIS compliant, and also provides data visualizations of relevant case data and crime trends.

The company is being advised by a handful of former law enforcement officials including Ed Davis, former Boston Police Commissioner, and Zal Azmi, former FBI CIO.

Vendors have been lining up to pursue the multi-faceted public safety opportunity set, which includes major network projects like the upcoming FirstNet, significant upgrades to 911 systems, law enforcement technology, and crisis response. According to Homeland Security Research, the global opportunity set for public safety will be $546 billion by 2022.

Mark43 will face some steep competition from first movers, including SceneDoc which provides mobile and cloud-based case management, COPsync a real-time network for law enforcement agencies, and the LexisNexis Public Safety Platform – to name a few. The firm could also be a target for acquisition by a vendor like LexisNexis, which is snapping up smaller companies to rapidly add features to the platform.

“This announcement is yet another proof point that the govtech market is ripe for investment,” said Ron Bouganim, Govtech Fund’s managing partner.