Active Defender is looking to graduate from being one of the top North Carolina Technology Association (NC TECH) startups to watch, to a ubiquitous
public safety solution that helps notify stakeholders of public safety emergencies in spaces beyond the classroom.
The company, based out of Moore County, currently has clients in school districts in more than 20 states using its state-of-the-art app to accurately, discreetly and intuitively report emergencies such as a fire or an active shooter scenario through mobile and web apps.
Active Defender is a situational awareness tool as it connects groups of students, staff and administrators to track and report emergencies while also alerting first responders. The app allows users to pinpoint where an incident has occurred by taking a photo and indicating the precise geographical location that will appear on the group’s devices, notifying all members of the group of the situation. The initial notification appears on the devices as an Amber Alert-style alarm and highlights the details of the situation, and administrators can control who in the group can see the alerts.
“Our main thing is to reduce risk, improve safety and peace of mind,” said Jim Boyte, the CEO of Active Defender. Boyte said the value of the service is its ability to continue to make reporting emergencies efficient. 

The app can also work on incidents that are not considered public safety emergencies, such as a scuffle between students. Those incidents can be reported through the app to school resource officers assigned to the building or other staff members that could help defuse the situation.
“Even the presence of an adult showing up to address a disturbance can help,” Boyte said. “We see suspension rates dropping by over 15 percent in the schools that use that to notify their staff. That is significant.”
The company also recently started implementing a QR code alert system.
“The school can print out a QR code and anybody can scan it with any smartphone,” Boyte said. “It turns their phone into a panic button that can not only call for help, but it can actually send pictures or even stream video to first responders.”

Another feature that has come in the last 18 months is an emergency report system that allows staff users to input how many students they are supposed to account for and how many are under their supervision during an emergency. 
“We have, I believe, the only system in the whole world that allows in the first three minutes of an emergency to account for any missing children that are not with an adult,” Boyte said. 
Powers added the emergency report is highly useful, particularly because schools tend to have a large staff.

“If you’ve got 50, 75, 100 staff members, as an administrator, you can’t keep up with all that during an emergency,” Powers said. “What our system does is it automatically tabulates the information of students accounted for onto a sheet and students who are missing. Then you can have other staff members who report that they have the missing student in the emergency reporting on that sheet. You can know who is missing or where that student may be in a matter of seconds.”
These new features have all come from the company’s strong relationships with school staff, first responders and school resource officers, Boyte noted.

The goal is to ultimately help protect every school in the country.
“We know we have the best product for that,” said COO Seth Powers. “There's not anything else out there that compares to what we do. There are competitors, but they're not products that offer the same capabilities and value we do.”

Active Defender was recently adopted by universities in California and West Virginia. The company also is in the early stages of a Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the U.S. Air Force. SBIR is a highly competitive program that encourages small businesses to engage in federal research/research and development with the potential for commercialization. The company is currently looking at how to implement Active Defender at military schools so that it meshes with the U.S. Armed Forces’ strict protocols.
The SBIR contract can then move to two more phases that add significant funding increments, Boyte said. While the company continues to perfect its service and streamline operations, they are also making moves to expand beyond educational settings. Boyte said the company just finalized its first capital raise. Powers noted the move will help expand the company.
“We raised approximately $587,000,” Powers said. “We plan for that money to go toward expanding our team, with the main focus being on sales and marketing. We also want to continue research and develop to improve our product. We want to expand our reach.”
Powers noted the company sees value in branching out to other places that often feature larger gatherings. “We see the usefulness of the product in so many places like healthcare facilities, hospitals and large business campuses,” he added. “Basically any place that you can think of where large groups of people are gathered.”
For Boyte, the sky’s the limit. “I believe with all my heart that in the next six months, we will be a billion dollar company because the technology is a paradigm shift,” he said. “It will make the world a better and a safer place. Through the process of that, we're committed to making sure people know we see them, and want to make a difference in improving their lives.”