Gabriel raises BRL 66 million from SoftBank to expand network of smart security cameras

The Brazilian startup has developed technology to monitor public areas and generate public safety intelligence

Gabriel raises BRL 66 million from SoftBank to expand its smart security camera network — Gabriel's co-founders: Otávio Miranda, Erick Coser and Sérgio Andrade. Photo: Gabriel/Courtesy

06.Oct.2021 09:00 BRT

Gabriel, a Brazilian security technology startup, has just announced a BRL 66 million Series A round led by SoftBank and followed by venture capital firms Canary, Norte Ventures, Globo Ventures, Indie Capital, QMS Capital, MontLacer Investments, CamelFarm Ventures, Endeavor ScaleUp Ventures and Wayra, the startup investment arm of the Telefonica-Vivo group.

Founded in 2020 by the trio Erick Coser, Otávio Miranda, and Sérgio Andrade, Gabriel’s solution was designed to solve a major problem in Brazil: public security. The founders’ vision is that security does not start “at home,” but rather on the streets, in the public and shared areas. “Public safety is a shared responsibility between each citizen and government,” says Miranda.

Gabriel’s thesis is that increasing security and reducing crime requires technology, data analysis, and intelligence generation. “Countries like the United States, China, and Israel have managed to solve these gaps by developing tech products focused on generating more efficiency and transparency for public security services, regardless of who is providing this service, whether it is a public or private entity,” Miranda explains.

We realized that solutions that worked well in other countries could not simply be reproduced in Brazil, so we developed a product to meet the specific demands of Brazil: an integrated, low cost, networkable system that generates a scale effect and has a public purpose.
Otávio Miranda, co-founder at gabriel

Gabriel’s flagship product is a low-cost system of intelligent cameras (nicknamed “Chameleon” because of its design) designed to monitor public areas. The cameras are interconnected. They are installed facing the street and provide a viewing angle of up to 180°.

Connected to a central station, the images are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When an offense or crime is captured by a Gabriel camera, the startup immediately informs security forces. Miranda says that based on the intelligence and images captured, Gabriel has already collaborated with at least 140 police inquiries in 2021.

Gabriel currently focuses its operations in Rio de Janeiro city, with a greater presence in the neighborhoods of Ipanema and Leblon, operating a system of 1,500 cameras. According to the startup, it already has five times more cameras than the city’s public grid. “Our solution generates a scale effect that amplifies security. Today, any crime that happens in our coverage areas will be captured by one of our cameras,” Miranda says.

Gabriel’s low-cost security camera. Photo: Gabriel/Courtesy

Gabriel’s solution is available on a monthly subscription basis – BRL 199 per camera. Most of its customers (usually condominiums, stores, office buildings, galleries) are served by two cameras. By becoming subscribers, Gabriel’s customers share among themselves the images from their cameras and are integrated with the security forces through the company’s support and investigation center. In addition, they have access to an app, which provides real-time images, contact with the central station, and an emergency button.

The newly raised funds will be invested in technology and in hiring talent; today the team consists of 77 people, more than a third of whom are IT professionals. All of Gabriel’s technology is proprietary, developed in-house, from the cameras to the software (from the customers’ app and the camera monitoring center to the computer vision model that detects anomalies in the monitored areas, among others). “It’s more challenging to develop everything in-house, but strategically it makes much more sense, it gives us total control over our operation,” Coser explains.

Besides the improvement of the main product, Gabriel is working on other issues, with the development of internal security solutions, such as internal camera systems, alarms, and access control tools. The startup also intends to start structuring an expansion strategy for other Brazilian and Latin American capitals next year.