Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based maker of security cameras and other technology, announced Thursday it has raised $275 million in fresh investment and is now valued at more than $7.5 billion.
It is one of the top five biggest venture capital raises by an Atlanta company in the past five years, according to an analysis of figures from data firm Crunchbase. The investment was led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which has previously invested in Flock Safety and backed companies like Facebook, Airbnb and Coinbase.
“I just think this is a testament to the quality and sophistication of the technology ecosystem in Atlanta,” Garrett Langley, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“There’s been a really big emphasis on keeping technology companies in Atlanta and becoming a hub for great technology companies, and we’re just excited to be a part of that story,” he said.
Flock Safety was founded in 2017 by Langley, an Atlanta native and Georgia Tech alum, and one of his fellow Tech graduates, Matt Feury. The company makes license plate readers, gunshot detectors, AI-powered video cameras and drones. It works with more than 4,800 law enforcement agencies across the U.S., as well as businesses, malls and health systems.
The investors who own about 10 blocks of historic downtown Atlanta properties — a redevelopment known as South Downtown — announced last year they were partnering with Flock Safety to install cameras in the area.
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin
Langley characterizes Flock Safety as a “technology crime-fighting company.” The company has more than 1,300 employees, and it says it hit $300 million in annualized recurring revenue in 2024.
But some of its products have come under criticism from residents of communities where the technology is used and advocacy organizations, like the American Civil Liberties Union. Those opposed to the products worry about oversurveillance and potential misuse of the products.
Flock Safety’s nine-figure investment is bucking a recent trend of venture capital going primarily to artificial intelligence companies. In 2024, close to a third of all venture capital investments around the globe went to companies in AI-related fields, according to Crunchbase.
“While there’s definitely a white-hot market related to AI, there remains a critical need to invest in our country,” Langley said
He is planning to use this infusion of cash in a variety of ways. The company will soon be opening a 100,000-square-foot facility in metro Atlanta to manufacture its drones, though the exact location has not yet been disclosed.
The company also plans to expand its staff with this investment. Langley said there are more than 300 open engineering roles, the majority of which will be based in Atlanta, and the manufacturing facility will employ hundreds as well.
Langley also hopes to start working with the federal government with the investment and get its first international customers.
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