Mark43 Secures $1.95 Million from Lead Investors Spark Capital and General Catalyst

BOSTON, July 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark43 (formerly known as Nucleik), an intuitive law enforcement information management software start-up, today announced the company has secured $1.95 million in seed funding from Spark Capital, General Catalyst, Lowercase Capital, SV Angel, Launchpad LA, Rough Draft Ventures, Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann and others. Mark43 will use the funds to expand the reach of its software across the U.S., working with departments in L.A. County, Massachusetts and other states to create the model of 21st century law enforcement information sharing, and to assist in reducing administrative time and increase effectiveness of criminal information.

The start-up, founded by three Harvard College graduates, Scott Crouch, Florian Mayr and Matthew Polega, recently won the $70,000 grand prize in the Harvard University President's Challenge – the university's largest entrepreneurship challenge to date. The idea for the platform took shape during an engineering design seminar at Harvard University when the team was tasked with gauging the success of a new policing model implemented by an elite team of Massachusetts State Troopers (C3 Policing Project).

Mark43 meaningfully reduces administrative work, enables the first true mobile data entry system, cutting edge big data analysis, and the ability to share data across different law enforcement departments nationally.

For the last eight months, the Massachusetts State Police Special Projects Team in Springfield, MA has used Mark43's software to help combat violent gangs, drug dealing, and standard offenses. The Troopers reported a 90 percent increase in information efficiency, which has allowed them to use the time they have saved to collect more intelligence and perform more social network analysis, effectively giving them more time in the field.

"Mark43 is a game-changer for policing technology and is transforming the face of law enforcement," said Mark43 CEO Scott Crouch. "Outdated software is preventing law enforcement agencies from sharing information and is increasing the amount of hours officers spend on administrative tasks – time that would be better spent in the field – because of limited mobile capabilities. Our platform is designed in the field with law enforcement, for law enforcement to save time, money and, most importantly, save the lives of law enforcement officers and the civilians they have sworn to protect. We want to help protect the people that protect us."

"Mark43 detected a serious problem with internal operations in law enforcement departments across the country and using a combination of mobile and web technology created a way to provide an effective platform that will save time, money, and more importantly, lives," said Spark Capital General Partner Alex Finkelstein. "More than ever, defense technology needs flexible solutions. We are excited to see this real-time platform in action and truly believe in the ripple effect this will have in local communities."

General Catalyst Investor Nitesh Banta said, "We believe that the law enforcement software market will see many of the same secular trends we have witnessed in other sectors such as the move to a cloud based SaaS offering, the opportunity for new distribution models driven by direct relationships between software vendors and end users as well as well as the ability to build new tools for mobile workers on mobile platforms. We see a big opportunity for Mark43, which is sitting in the center of these key trends."

About Spark Capital

Spark Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs seeking to build disruptive, world-changing companies. Founded in 2005, the firm manages approximately $1,500,000,000 across four funds. Headquartered in Boston, Spark maintains an office in New York and invests across the globe. The firm focuses on the following key categories: advertising & monetization, commerce & services, content & media, hardware & infrastructure, mobile and social. Spark Capital has backed notable companies including Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, AdMeld, OMGPOP, Warby Parker and Wayfair. For more information, visit www.sparkcapital.com.

About General Catalyst

Founded in 2000, and based in Cambridge, MA and Palo Alto, CA, General Catalyst is an active, value-added venture capital firm that makes early stage and growth equity investments in rapidly growing companies. General Catalyst focuses on partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs across the spectrum of early to growth stage that are building innovative companies and transforming industries. General Catalyst also partners with Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (XIRs) to identify growth-stage investment opportunities where the XIR's unique experience as operators, and hands-on expertise in the company-building process, and business development capabilities can help middle-market growth stage companies scale quickly, often through acquisition strategies. For further information please see (www.generalcatalystpartners.com)

SOURCE Spark Capital