South African emergency tech startup AURA has secured 13.5 million R270 million in Series B funding, marking a major milestone in its mission to democratise access to private emergency response services. The round was co-led by Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund CAIF and global VC Partech , bringing AURAs total funding to date to 21 million R420 million .
Founded in 2017 by Warren Myers , Ryan Green , and Adam Pantanowitz , AURA operates a smart emergency dispatch platform that connects individuals in distress to the nearest vetted private security or medical responders. The company has built South Africas largest private emergency response network, with over 3,000 responders on its platform.
The latest raise will fuel AURAs expansion into the United States a market with growing demand for private security alternatives amid stretched public services. The company has already soft-launched its on-demand private security model in the US, aiming to streamline alarm verification, reduce response times, and support law enforcement by filtering out non-priority incidents.
The startup is also developing a global clearing house for emergency responsean ambitious platform to facilitate borderless emergency dispatch through its unified API.
Strong investor backingCAIF, which first backed AURA in 2022, doubled down on its investment in the Series B round.