- The Splunk Ventures Social Impact Fund announced it has invested in Zonehaven. These are the details.
Splunk — the provider of the Data-to-Everything Platform — announced recently that it made an investment in Zonehaven. Zonehaven is a cloud-based analytics application designed for helping communities improve evacuations and reduce wildfire risk.
The investment from Splunk was made through its newly launched Splunk Ventures Social Impact Fund — which is a $50 million fund that invests in early-stage organizations that are using innovative and data-driven approaches for making a meaningful social impact.
Last year, there were more than 57,000 wildfires that burned 8.8 million acres of land in the United States according to the National Interagency Fire Center. These fires claimed many lives, damaged global ecosystems, and cost billions in property damage.
Even though the prevalence and volatility of wildfires grew substantially, fire departments are still heavily relying on word-of-mouth 911 call centers and static paper playbooks for detecting wildfires and evacuating those at risk.
Zonehaven launched last year and it gives fire departments and emergency response agencies situational awareness and decision support by utilizing intelligent evacuation zones, advanced fire modeling, real-time weather data, and always-on fire sensing capabilities.
“The increased spread of wildfires is a global emergency that impacts public health and the planet. While technology alone won’t eliminate fires, Zonehaven’s unique software can help communities prepare for evacuation, provide advance warning to those in harm’s way, preserve natural and economic resources and ultimately save lives,” said Charlie Crocker, CEO and co-founder at Zonehaven. “As one of the world’s leading data analytics platform providers, Splunk is an ideal partner to help us in our mission. We look forward to partnering with Splunk as we deliver data-driven impact in the fight against wildfires.”
Zonehaven’s platform offers a common data platform for coordination and response to wildfires. And by facilitating evacuation pre-planning and analyzing always-on sensor data, Zonehaven is able to identify ignition points, projects simulated fire spread, develop fire-specific intelligent evacuation zones, and enable fire departments to execute efficient evacuations.
“The Splunk Ventures Social Impact Fund was created to accelerate innovative, data-driven solutions to society’s most pressing challenges. As providers of the world’s first Data-to-Everything Platform, Splunk has a unique opportunity to make the world a better place by turning data into doing good,” added Lenny Stein, senior vice president of global affairs, Splunk. “Zonehaven’s innovative technology has enormous potential to bring wildfire detection and response into the 21st century. Splunk is proud to invest in and partner with Zonehaven as we work together to address one of the world’s most immediate threats.”
With this round of funding, Zonehaven will expand its team and increase research and development and advance product capabilities. Plus Zonehaven will also continue to collaborate closely with Splunk for Good as well as resources from Splunk Products, Engineering, and Business Development teams to meet their mission.
