Following the worldwide debut of its Safe Zone Gunfire Detector (GFD) at CES 2019, Safe Zone today announced the completion of a $1 million round of funding anchored by Tampa, Fla.-based Seedfunders, the strengthening of its North American market distribution and the expansion of its senior leadership team.  

“The response to the Safe Zone Gunfire Detection System is nothing short of extraordinary,” said Safe Zone founder, president and chief operating officer Mike Anderson. “CES attendees clearly understood that our solution is the active shooter security breakthrough a very troubled world needs. The completion of our financing, the strengthening of our reach throughout North America and the appointment of three new members to our team are going to enhance our ability to fully commercialize the Safe Zone GFD solution.”

In addition to the new round of funding and management team appointments, Anderson today announced that Stampede, a provider of value-added ProAV solutions, has been appointed to distribute the Safe Zone product line throughout North America.  

“Stampede’s unmatched reseller network across all vertical markets, coupled with its demonstrated ability to bring meaningful new solutions to market, is going to help Safe Zone reach more potential customers at rapid scale,” Anderson said. “Stampede understands that resellers serving customers in K-12 education, higher education, retail, hospitality and facility management have been looking for a low cost, easy to deploy and expand solution like Safe Zone, and now they have it.”

The new members of the Safe Zone team include Mike Lally as CEO, Irv Cohen as chairman of the board of directors and Andy Charles as director. They join COO/founder Mike Anderson, CTO John Anderson and director of customer experience Neil Grosse on the company’s senior leadership team.

“Mike, Irv and Andy bring a wealth of sensor, IT and business building experience to Safe Zone that will help us to scale across all target markets,” Anderson said. Complete background information on the entire Safe Zone leadership team can be found here.  

Designed and manufactured in the United States, and priced at $149 per unit, the Safe Zone Gunfire Detector combines the latest infrared and acoustic detection technologies with immediate cloud-based data analysis. By utilizing the data from multiple detectors simultaneously, the system determines the location of shots fired, the number of shots and the type and caliber of gun being used. 

Within ten seconds of the trigger pull, an alert is sent to the appropriate dispatch center, giving local 911 dispatchers all the critical information right on their existing displays. This can greatly reduce the time needed to locate and engage shooters, as experts say officers arriving on scene would normally take up to 12 minutes to obtain usable information from shocked, and often conflicting, witnesses.  

The Safe Zone Gunfire Detector is a small (less than 3” x 3”) triangular unit that mounts in a ceiling corner and provides gunfire detection for an area. Safe Zone can be connected to third-party alarm, surveillance, door lock and mass notification systems to provide a complete emergency response solution. Property managers can increase the capability of their Safe Zone Gunfire Detection system with additional Safe Zone security products including door and window sensors, silent alert units and wall mounted emergency duress buttons.