MakuSafe has announced a $3m seed round, bringing its total funding to date to ~$4.5m. EMC Insurance and Next Level Ventures participated in the round.
DES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MakuSafe (“MakuSafe” or the “Company”), the safety technology leader, announced that the Company closed its nearly $3 million seed round.
This brings the total funds raised by the Company to nearly $4.5 million. Funding has come from a number of capital groups, including EMC Insurance Companies, Next Level Ventures, and The Best of the Midwest. The Company plans to use the capital to hire key personnel and to scale the manufacturing of MakuSafe’s proprietary technology.
MakuSafe has developed a sophisticated system for gathering real-time environmental and human motion data to identify workplace risk. The MakuSmart cloud platform uses machine learning to process millions of data points gathered by wearable armband devices invented by the Company. Jason W. Gross, Vice President of Strategy & Business Transformation at EMC Insurance Companies stated, “Our agents and policyholders count on EMC to provide insurance products and, at the same time, help policyholders mitigate and manage their risks. That’s why we are investing in and partnering with companies like MakuSafe that are leveraging new technology and analytics to make our workplaces and workers even safer.”
Each day, more than 1,000 employees worldwide lose their life to a workplace accident. In the United States alone, well over $1 Billion is paid out each week in worker’s compensation claims. With the data gathered from the wearable devices, MakuSafe customers can gain deeper insights into their workforce and operations, resulting in mitigating workplace risks and reducing worker compensation claims.
“For several years we’ve been conducting tests in facilities around Central Iowa and using the results of those tests to fine-tune our product,” said MakuSafe CEO and co-founder Gabriel Glynn. “We’re truly excited about the progress we’ve made and are looking forward to getting through the manufacturing process so we can begin to provide product to awaiting customers.” Scott Hoekman, Principal of Next Level Ventures commented, “Next Level Ventures could not be more excited to invest in MakuSafe. In addition, MakuSafe is creating a product which incorporates hardware, software, worker safety, and insurance. This intriguing combination really resonates with Iowa’s growing startup ecosystem as well as two of Iowa’s core industries – manufacturing and insurance. And with this financing we are eager to see MakuSafe accelerate its growth and bolster its innovative solution.”
This past Fall, MakuSafe was selected to pitch at The Best of the Midwest, an angel capital event that took place in Des Moines, IA. Accredited investors from around the Midwest pooled money together and collectively picked which participating startups would receive investment. MakuSafe was selected for investment from the group. “Plains Angels and the Angel Capital Association – The Best of the Midwest group, is proud to invest in MakuSafe. They not only have a great business outlook but their product will save lives and limit accidents,” said Mike Colwell, Co-Manager of Plains Angels.
“Access to Angel and Venture Capital is a vital part of a healthy startup ecosystem, especially for startups tackling large-scale problems that require extensive engineering,” said Glynn. “We are delighted to have found financial support from investors here in Central Iowa and around the Midwest. Raising nearly $4.5 million dollars is no small task, but in doing so we can serve as yet another example of a growing and maturing startup ecosystem in the Heartland.”
About MakuSafe
MakuSafe is a Software as a Service (SaaS), Data, and Analytics company based in America’s Heartland. Our mission is to improve worker health, safety, and productivity while reducing worker’s compensation claims and mitigating workplace risks. Founded in West Des Moines, Iowa in 2016 by Gabriel Glynn and Mark Frederick, MakuSafe has developed proprietary wearable technology that gathers real-time environmental and motion data from workers. Our cloud platform, MakuSmart, then uses machine learning to identify high-risk trends in the facility. The portal auto-records near-miss leading indicators, proactively targets loss control resources to specific conditions & occurrences, and streamlines compliance reporting. Learn more at https://youtu.be/vy8VB8stx4A(video) and https://makusafe.com/news
MEDIA CONTACT: Eric Olson
515.453.2105
[email protected]
