SÃO PAULO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gabriel, a technology and security-focused AI startup, today announced that it has raised US$12 million in its Series A funding round led by the SoftBank Latin America Fund, with participation from Canary, Norte Ventures, Globo Ventures, Indie Capital, QMS Capital, Montlacer Investments, CamelFarm Ventures, Endeavor ScaleUp Ventures and Wayra, the startup investment arm of the Spanish Telco Telefónica group. Gabriel will use the capital raised to invest in resources aimed at building Brazil's largest safety surveillance camera network, starting in Rio de Janeiro, with plans for further expansion in other major cities.
Gabriel was founded in 2020 by Erick Coser, Otávio Miranda and Sérgio Andrade, born out of their ambition to solve one of the biggest problems in Brazil and Latin America – the lack of public safety. The founders observed crime reduction best practices from various places, including London, New York, Israel and Beijing, and found that these areas all had best-in-class technology companies backing the development of solutions for efficiency and transparency of the security agents and police forces at work. Recognizing the complexity of the security challenges in Latin America, Gabriel's founders developed a system of interconnected, low-cost intelligent cameras.
Gabriel offers its members the support of thousands of intelligent cameras and proprietary technology, resilient by design. The company operates the camera park entirely, spread over multiple neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro and soon-to-be-launched new capitals. The startup currently manages five times more cameras than the government's network in the city. By becoming a Gabriel subscriber, users can share images from their public facing cameras with the Gabriel network through the company's platform. Gabriel can then carry out complex investigations and notify the police in a few minutes – all at no cost to the government and significantly benefiting users with a public security system that works. With increasingly higher criminal activity, a harsh result of pandemic-led unemployment and growing inequality, the company contributes decisive intel to police operations. In the last month alone, the company participated in more than one investigation a day and multiple identifications and arrests of criminals in Leblon and Ipanema.
Erick Coser, CEO of Gabriel, said, "Across Latin America, people spend billions of dollars every year on security, and our lives didn’t get any better. Home and commercial technology and security products are outdated, non-resilient and often unreliable, despite the growing private spending on security. Our streets and neighborhoods of capital cities have not become safer in recent years and it's time for our generation to take responsibility for solving yesterday's legacy problems with a brand new set of ideas. At Gabriel, we are tackling this issue head on with our suite of cameras, vast network and rapid investigation process."
Otávio Miranda, Co-Founder of Gabriel, added, "We are fighting crime with intelligence. Ensuring public safety is a collective duty of every citizen, not only government officials. Information asymmetry is what makes us uncertain about the protection of our beloved ones and homes. That's why we built a security infrastructure that prevents uncertainty, impunity and injustice. It is only through knowing every nook and cranny of the streets we live in that the reality of security will change for the better."
Paulo Passoni, Managing Partner at the SoftBank Latin America Fund, stated, "Gabriel is challenging an industry that is ripe for change and disruption and aiming to solve one of the biggest problems in Latin America: being and feeling safe. We are beyond excited to support a brilliant group of entrepreneurs.”
Marcos Toledo, Managing Partner at Canary, said, "We enjoy supporting founders who have the vision to solve big problems — and security is one of the biggest problems we have in Brazil. So, when we met Gabriel's team, we were thrilled with the potential they had. Today, we are happy to see this potential being unveiled for the public good, making people safer.”
About Gabriel
Founded in January 2020 by Erick Coser, Otávio Miranda, and Sérgio Andrade, Gabriel is a technology startup that solves one of the biggest problems in Brazil: public safety. Using computer vision and IoT, the company is building the country's most extensive protection and security network, using smart cameras positioned in buildings, homes, and commercial establishments, aimed at public space and integrated. Its work fights crime with technology, also making the work carried out by the security forces more efficient and transparent. Gabriel already has the largest active camera park in the city of Rio de Janeiro. To learn more, visit: https://gabriel.com.br
About SoftBank
The SoftBank Group invests in breakthrough technology to improve the quality of life for people around the world. The SoftBank Group is comprised of SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984), an investment holding company that includes stakes in telecommunications, internet services, AI, smart robotics, IoT and clean energy technology providers; the SoftBank Vision Funds, which are investing more than US$135 billion to help extraordinary entrepreneurs transform industries and shape new ones; the US$5 billion SoftBank Latin America Fund, the largest venture fund in that region; the newly-launched US$3 billion SoftBank Latin America Fund II; and the SB Opportunity Fund, a US$100 million fund dedicated to investing in enterprises founded by entrepreneurs of color in the U.S. To learn more, please visit https://group.softbank/en.