Crisis management startup CommandPost banks $200,000 Seed round

CommandPost, a crisis management startup designed to improve emergency response times and coordination has raised $200,000 in Seed funding from Melbourne VC Skalata $200,000.

Founder Alex Rixon-Booth worked in emergency service response and decided to take things to the next level in the wake of miscommunications during the recent NSW floods and Black Summer bushfires as responders grappled with cumbersome and outdated systems.

“Any emergency response systems have been in place since the early 2000s, and are not equipped to provide useful analytics or detailed reporting. Connectivity between response teams is often inhibited,” he said. 

“CommandPost provides a real-time interface for multiple parties – agencies, medical and fire departments, and humanitarian relief teams – to share in a coordinated response to emergencies.”

The startup’s software can also be used on planned events like concerts and sporting events, and unplanned events ranging from road traffic accidents and first aid calls. It’s already been deployed at events including the St Kilda Festival, Melbourne Royal Show, Melbourne Marathon, Oxfam Trailwalker and Vivid Sydney.

Rixon-Booth said CommandPost integrates easily with existing systems and can be set up in under 5 minutes.

“When users log in, they’re already familiar with the tool, which is vital in a critical crisis or incident,” he said.

“It acts as a single source of truth, and equips incident controllers with the ability to make decisions and to involve others in seconds – as opposed to inundating people with conflicting messaging and outdated information.” 

The data collected can also be used to improve responses and even prevent future incidents. 

“All correspondence history, decisions, and actions taken are recorded and can be exported for review of how the incident was handled,” Rixon-Booth said.

“You can also see how many incidents are happening of a certain nature, a certain location, or a certain timing.”

Skalata Investment manager, Tom Smalley said crisis, emergency, and incident management is now a $180 billion market and growing at a CAGR of 6.2%, with the opportunity growing beyond emergency response to any major logistics projects.

“We are looking forward to helping CommandPost get its life-saving software into the hands of emergency teams and control rooms across Australia and beyond,” he said.

“We see airports, mining operations, transportation, zoos, and facilities management as key supplementary markets that could benefit from the software.”