Halo, the public safety and security software, which was used at the coronation for King Charles III and the state funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, has secured further equity funding via the British investment crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. This now takes the UK’s leading crowd safety and security operations tech platform to a £10 million valuation.
The public safety and security technology, which was the recent recipient of a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation, was oversubscribed in its maiden crowdfunding investment call, achieving 198% of its target raise. Halo Solutions secured a total of £489,610 from 188 equity investors on the Crowdcube trading platform, taking the total number of investors in the company to 220.
The Halo System uniquely provides a public safety, security and incident response platform that streamlines all aspects of crowd safety, incident management, security and operations into one place. It is now the leading crowd safety and threat management platform in the world, protecting over 3 million people per day on average.
Halo acts as a central command-and-control function that operates from a standard laptop, tablet or smart phone and integrates 10 systems into one, including CCTV and live drone feeds, ticket scanning, accreditation, incident management, task management, patrol management, mass notification, health and safety and medical incident management. The Halo system Streamlines efficiencies in crowd safety and security operations and management allowing for speedier communication, faster response times and enhanced event planning.
It is used at some of the world’s biggest and most prestigious events, venues and stadiums to provide crowd safety and security including the Eurovision Song Contest, FIFA World Cup fan zones in Qatar, the Miami F1 Grand Prix, Silverstone’s British Grand Prix and Moto GP. It has also protected fans at some of the UK’s biggest entertainment events, from Notting Hill Carnival and Glastonbury to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Halo was also used at the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and the state funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
The global market for incident and emergency management alone was valued at $121.4 billion in 2022 and is forecast to exceed $163 billion in 2027. Halo has also forecast 340% revenue growth in FY23 and has a client retention rate of 93%.
Now employing 16 people, Halo Solutions was founded in 2018 by CEO Lloyd Major, a former national counter terrorism police officer, crowd safety and event security adviser with more than 20 years of policing experience, including police training and public order command at major sporting events. He was also the first operational police planner in the UK to obtain a Master’s degree in Emergency Planning and Management, developing a totally new process for threat assessment at public events, which became national policing policy.
Commenting on the recent investment round, Halo Solutions Founder and CEO Lloyd Major said:
“We are absolutely delighted with the response from our maiden funding round with Crowdcube and thrilled to welcome on board our new investors on this exciting next phase of our journey. The capital raise will enable us to continue our development funding of the software with more client-led features whilst also helping to fund marketing campaigns into new territories and power up our global expansion into America, Europe and the Middle East.”
The company is expanding aggressively into the Middle East region to help keep people safe at major events and has worked with leading event safety and promoters Safe Events Global, JAM Events (Safety Division) and MDLBEAST. Halo has been pivotal in providing safety and security protection of fans and people at events across the region, including MDLBEAST’s Soundstorm Festival, Al Bidda Park Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Fanzones, Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Saudi Arabian Grand Prix After Concerts, Backstreet Boys DNA World Tour Jeddah, Balad Beast Festival Saudi Arabia and Bruno Mars at Azimuth, Al Ula and more past and present.
Midven, one of Halo’s main investment partners, has also strengthened its further investment into the tech company to support its global growth and expansion.
Surjit Kooner, Investment Director of Midven said:
“Midven, a part of Future Planet Capital, is delighted to be able to further support Halo Solutions in their latest fundraising round. The progress Halo have made to date is testament to the dedication of Lloyd and the broader team. The funds raised will play a pivotal role in the next stage of Halo’s growth, enabling them to expand the product range of their lifesaving crowd and security software, enter new territories, and enhance their marketing efforts.”
The crowd and event safety platform has also been deployed at major entertainment and exhibition arenas across the UK, such as the NEC in Birmingham, ExCeL London, Motorpoint Arena Nottingham and the ACC Liverpool, to keep millions of visitors safe each year. Additionally, it played a key role in protecting the public across major rail transport infrastructure and stations across the UK, including London Euston, Network Rail and a number of university campuses, including Birmingham City University.
In May of this year, Halo was honoured by His Majesty King Charles III, when the company was awarded The King’s Awards for Enterprise Innovation. Previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, these were renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The award programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the country, with successful businesses able to use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years.
