Two former employees at Sprinklr, a social media marketing company, have teamed up with a security executive on a startup that is taking on one of the most difficult tasks around -- providing high-tech security insights to keep employees, students and physical assets safe.
Ontic Technologies, which was formed about a year ago, uses identity, location, risk behavior and open source information to analyze and investigate potential threats and alert security officials. Those threats could include people who have shown "pre-incident indicators" of violence or mental health issues.
The company has geared its product to large companies and educational institutions, and investors are taking notice.
The startup announced Wednesday it has raised a $4.65 million Series Seed round led by Austin-based Silverton Partners. Floodgate and Village Global were also in on the round.
"Prior to acts of violence occurring, there exist signs, behaviors, or initial warnings. Today, with the amount of data we have available in digital conversations and behavior tracking hardware, we have the opportunity to prevent threats from materializing," Lukas Quanstrom, co-founder and CEO of Ontic Technologies, said in a news release. "The burden of accountability that businesses, schools, and really all institutions have to keep their people safe means they are looking for more than higher walls and stronger locks."
Ontic was co-founded by Quanstorm, a former AVP of strategic alliances at Sprinklr; Gagan Jain, a former VP of platform adoption engineering at Sprinklr; and Thomas Kopecky, a long-time CEO at Fortis Protective Services, which provides executive travel and closer protection services around the globe.
As part of the funding round, Ontic also announced it has hired Mat Thompson as VP of sales and marketing. Thompson is also a Sprinklr alum who was most recently global account manager. He is also a former VP of brands at Austin's Bazaarvoice.
