#PowerToTheFirstResponder CRV’s Investment in Aerodome
By Saar Gur, Cailtin Bolnick Rellas and Veronica Orellana
Great technology and founders with original product thought have always been a great match for our firm. We love working alongside talented coders and people who have firsthand knowledge of their customers’ pain. We’ve closely followed the drone space for years. (Fun fact: Matternet worked out of CRV’s offices during its earliest days.) As drone tech evolved, our team’s conviction that we could discover startups that could have both a positive impact on the world, and be a great business, grew stronger. When Rahul Sidhu and Kenaniah Cerny walked through our door we sensed something magical had happened. Aerodome is a perfect use case for drones and has the right mix of industry chops and sales-oriented acumen.
For over a decade, Rahul was a full-time (now reserve) police officer. He also served as a paramedic and a crew chief. In 2014, Rahul co-founded SPIDR Tech (a customer service platform for law enforcement) with his current co-founder Kenaniah. Aerodome also has an experienced engineering team and a core group of early GTM hires.
This is a terrific team that knows how to work together which is why today we’re excited to announce that we led Aerodome’s $21.5 million Series A and joined Aerodome’s board.
Aerodome sees drones as full-fledged members of the police force… true first responders in their own right or Drone-As-First-Responder (DFR).
Speeding through crowded intersections in a cruiser is dangerous for responding officers and results in precarious situations for members of the public. Aerodome is the teammate that can fly directly into harm’s way providing responding officers with critical information that can rapidly escalate or de-escalate situations.
Early data shows Aerodome responses are 80 percent faster and that they reduce the need for patrol officers to respond to calls by 15–25 percent.
Drones can fly in weather conditions that are problematic even for seasoned pilots. Aerodome is also greener, safer, less noisy and SIGNIFICANTLY more economical than helicopters. The ROI for understaffed police departments is clear. Aerodome-enabled forces respond faster and show up to situations better informed. Knowledge and human touch are never more important than in high stakes situations. We envision a world in the not so distant future where these eyes in the sky will become as ubiquitous to standard policing as body cams.
Agencies leveraging Aerodome accomplish, on average, an 86-second response time which is a far cry from the typical 7–8 minute response time to most 911 calls.
Knowing minutes sooner that the object a suspect is holding isn’t in fact a gun, but a Wii controller or a cellphone, can save lives and give officers back valuable seconds assessing a situation.
When speed is of the essence, drones can clear spaces and locate stolen vehicles faster, and safer, than fleets of cruisers that might get held up in gridlock. Aerodome also provides communities that can’t afford a helicopter the eyes in the sky they sorely need to keep their neighborhoods safe.
Category-defining companies that have inside knowledge of groundbreaking industries are our bread and butter, and our investment in Aerodome is a perfect testament to that fact. If you’re working on a talented team that’s going after a tough market and can demonstrate solid ROI, get to know us a bit better and feel free to reach out. We enjoy leading Seed and Series A rounds, so it’s never too early to get to know our team.
