Max Keenan pivoted his startup to address overloaded municipal non-emergency call lines after a salon owner experienced a 45-minute hold time. The company developed an AI voice assistant to triage non-urgent 911 calls, identify real emergencies for immediate human transfer, and collect information to generate reports or relay details to police departments. Aurelian raised $14 million in Series A funding led by NEA. Since May 2024, the AI assistant has been deployed at more than a dozen dispatch centers, including Snohomish County, Chattanooga, and Kalamazoo. Adoption is driven by chronic understaffing and high turnover in emergency dispatching.
A nearby school's carpool line was constantly blocking the parking lot of one of Aurelian's hair salon clients. The salon owner called the city's non-emergency line and was put on hold for 45 minutes before reaching a dispatcher. "She called me into her office afterwards, and was like, 'Max, do you want to help me out?'" Keenan told TechCrunch. When he started to research how municipal non-emergency response call centers work,
Aurelian pivoted to building an AI voice assistant that helps 911 call centers offload non-emergency call volume. The company announced on Wednesday that it raised a $14 million Series A led by NEA. The company's AI voice agent is designed to triage non-urgent issues like noise complaints, parking violations, and even stolen wallet reports - situations that don't need an officer's immediate response or can be handled without dispatching personnel to the scene.
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