Fall 2025
When Atlanta-based Flock Safety started in 2017, investors were hesitant. Today, the company’s surveillance technology, used by police, neighborhoods, and businesses across the country, has become a magnet for venture capital.
By Katja Ridderbusch
Tech start-up lore typically involves brainiac founders in converted garages desperately pursuing ruthless investors. It’s all part of the Silicon Valley mystique.
For Atlanta-based security company Flock Safety, the narrative differs ever so slightly. “We were unique in that we had several red marks against us,” says Paige Todd, the company’s cofounder and chief people officer.
The biggest challenge was Flock’s product portfolio. Hardware is expensive and doesn’t always yield fast success, making it a difficult sale to investors, Todd says. Their location 2,500 miles from San Francisco was another problem back in 2017, when Atlanta was only beginning to emerge as a tech start-up hub.
The third hurdle was Flock’s initial customer base, neighborhood associations and law enforcement, which are risk-averse and safety-minded—a stark contrast to venture capitalists, who typically pride themselves on taking bold risks.
“All of these factors took the world of venture capital down to only a few investors who would even talk to us,” says Todd, shrugging her shoulders.
Those who invested haven’t had regrets. Flock raised $950 million in funding rounds between 2017 and 2025, with investors including Bedrock Capital, Y Combinator, and Tiger Global Management. A March funding round, led by Silicon Valley–based venture capital icon Andreessen Horowitz, secured $275 million, valuing the company at $7.5 billion. In 2024, Flock generated over $300 million in annual recurring revenue.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Flock’s signature products are automated license plate readers (LPRs). Mounted on poles, the solar-powered devices use artificial intelligence to photograph and read the rear license plates of passing vehicles. The results are run through national, state, and local databases of cars that have been stolen or involved in criminal investigations. Flock’s portfolio also includes video surveillance cameras, portable surveillance systems (i.e., mobile security trailers), and devices that use AI to analyze and locate the sound of gunfire.
Most products are named for birds, for example, Falcon, Sparrow, and Raven. “The idea is that if they all work together as a group—a flock—we’ll be more successful in solving crime,” says Todd.
Last year, Flock launched a Drone-as-First-Responder program, helping law enforcement use drones to reduce response times, increase efficiency, and boost officer and public safety. Today, more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies, 6,000 communities, and 1,000 businesses in 49 states rely on Flock technology. The company claims its technology is helping police solve over 15 percent of reported crime in the U.S.
“Flock is a huge success story for Atlanta,” says Brian Cayce, managing director of the Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Emory. “They’ve created something that didn’t exist before.”
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE INVESTORS
Flock has 1,500 employees scattered across the country. At the Atlanta headquarters, located in the trendy Westside Provisions District, about 200 staffers work in an airy space with large glass windows, concrete floors, and minimalist furniture.
In Cayce’s opinion, Flock’s success can be largely attributed to the relationship between the company and investors. “Given where Flock has arrived today, there must have been a good alignment between the founders’ vision and the early-stage investors,” he says.
Start-ups often have a strong idea and some pieces of evidence but no guarantee of a big outcome, he adds. Venture capital usually provides the start-up with up to 24 months of so-called runway money to build, test, iterate, or change course.
Flock was founded by Todd, along with Garrett Langley, now CEO, and Chief Technology Officer Matt Feury. The three Georgia Tech alumni started it as a side business and designed the first surveillance camera not in a garage, but on Langley’s dining room table. Back then, it was more of a project than a company.
Flock initially leased its cameras to Atlanta neighborhoods— the first was Peachtree Park in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead community. Still, police were the end users, and when several local law enforcement agencies credited Flock’s products with helping them solve break-ins, the founding trio knew they were on to something.
But in the first year and a half, they were hesitant to work directly with law enforcement. “Our main fear was that governments tend to move slowly,” says Todd. In 2019, Flock, which owns and maintains its hardware, leased its first LPR to the Cobb County Police Department, a 700-officer agency north of Atlanta. The company took off from there.
“We were lucky that we found investors who believed in us early on, and we’re glad they are still there by our side,” says Todd. Many of Flock’s investors became partners, advising the fast-growing company on recruitment, marketing, sales, and acquisitions.
BIRDS IN FLIGHT
Flock launched its aviation sector last year with the acquisition of drone start-up Aerodome for more than $300 million. The company completed a new 97,000 square-foot drone manufacturing facility in Smyrna in April. It didn’t hurt that both Flock and Aerodome share some of the same investors, mainly venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Flock plans to hire 500 additional people this year. Law enforcement remains the largest customer base, but the number of businesses using Flock’s technology is increasing, including the Home Depot, Lowe’s, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Ulta Beauty, and Simon Property Group. The demand is particularly high in the logistics space, says Todd, where Flock’s technology monitors trucking yards and container terminals.
Commercial customers and neighborhood associations have the option to integrate their surveillance technology into their local police department’s data information platform.
A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW
Along with all the hype around Flock’s success, there’s also been controversy. Several community organizations and data protection advocates, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have raised concerns about privacy violations and over-surveillance. The ACLU stated in a report that Flock Safety’s LPR and security camera network contributes “to the creation of a centralized mass surveillance system of Orwellian scope.”
Over the summer, media reports said local police have used Flock’s technology to perform searches on behalf of ICE. There’s also been concern that a Flock pilot program with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, while intended to help combat human trafficking, has been directed at immigration-related searches. 404 Media reported that Flock considered including hacked data in its new Nova intelligence gathering platform—data that could be used to target individuals for immigration enforcement.
Flock was quick to respond. The company said Nova wouldn’t supply customers with any data gathered from the dark web or purchased from data breaches. It also put a hold on its pilot program and tweaked its system so that federal inquiries would be clearly flagged.
Todd adds that Flock runs every new product through a rigorous policy review, which includes legal, ethical, and accountability guardrails. The company also offers law enforcement agencies the option to turn on a transparency portal that logs each data hit or search request.
Venture capital expert Cayce says he understands the controversy around privacy. But it’s not unusual for startups “to operate in a way that’s fast and often precedes regulatory discussions.”
A BIRD IN THE HAND
For the near future, Flock intends to focus exclusively on the domestic market. “There’s still a lot of white space in the U.S. that we haven’t tapped into,” says Todd.
While an IPO appears to be the next obvious step, Flock doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to go public. The company issued its first tender offer to its long-time team members last year. It was an opportunity to sell shares back to the company, provide liquidity to employees, and satisfy early investors.
Concerns about location, product, and customer base early in Flock’s journey have—piece by piece—played in the company’s favor. Doing business with law enforcement has been a smooth experience, says Todd, as local governments tend to close deals much faster than she expected. “They’re also pretty stable customers that rarely go out of business,” she adds with a smile.
As for location, Georgia’s relatively low cost of living, growing influx of talent, and strong support network for businesses make it one of the hottest states in the country for start-ups—and a strong competitor for venture capital. “Not being in San Francisco but in Atlanta has turned out to be an asset,” says Todd.
Copyright: GaBiz Magazine/Katja Ridderbusch