Every few weeks, we publish a Software PE Pulse: a roundup of recent software M&A transactions from a particular sector. This one focuses on the public safety sector – a highly active market. Here are the deals from the past few months.
CentralSquare acquires Blueline AI (Jan 2025)
Category: Reporting & analytics
Type: Add-on
CentralSquare is one of the largest govtech companies in the world. It creates software for both public admin (operations, finance, permitting and other government functions) and public safety (police, emergency response, jails and other safety activities) functions.
CentralSquare wasn’t built organically, however. The biggest event in their history came in 2018 when private equity funds Bain Capital and Vista Equity Partners combined four govtech businesses (TriTech, Superion, Zuercher and Aptean’s public sector business). They formed the #1 largest public safety software business and #2 largest public admin software business at the time. They’ve continued to grow into one of the most well-known govtech businesses in the world.
CentralSquare made a few quick acquisitions shortly after the merger, but this Blueline AI deal is the first that they’ve made in nearly 6 years.
Blueline AI was founded in 2023 by Lane Floyd and Preston Willis, both recent college graduates. Blueline’s product is basically “AI for police work.” One example is taking audio from police camera footage and transcribing it into text. This is needed for documentation (police reports) and evidence (court cases), but also has become more widespread simply as a use for officer accountability. In many cases, this previously was done by human transcriptionists. Blueline does it automatically with AI, making it quicker (saving time) and without having to hire (cheaper).
That’s just one example. Blueline has several products that solve various administrative tasks in police work. They’ve given agencies full control of their data and also have compliant, secure practices so that working with governments isn’t an issue.
Why did CentralSquare buy Blueline? At this point, CentralSquare is large and a bit sleepy. They need to figure out their next growth area and they’ve clearly identified that AI will help them keep and grow their market position. I suspect that this deal was mostly about the technology and that they will integrate it into their existing product suite, using it as a way to entice customers to stay. The Blueline founders have joined CentralSquare in AI roles and will continue to build products for them.
Flock Safety (two drone-related acquisitions)
Category: First-response; Hardware
Type: Product expansion
Flock Safety is a VC-backed technology company trying to help improve public safety through various hardware and software solutions. Their thesis is that with better evidence, law enforcement will be able to reduce crime (their goal is a 25% reduction in reported crime in the US).
Their first product was a license plate recognition camera, though as of Q1 2025, they have several products. A good way to understand how it’s used to reduce crime is with a real-world example in Berkeley, CA:
- A Flock license plate reader alerted Berkeley police to a stolen Toyota Prius near UC Berkeley.
- After stopping the vehicle, officers arrested the suspect, who was linked to two previous burglaries where nearly $10,000 in electronics and credit cards were stolen from unlocked apartments while residents slept.
- The arrest led to multiple felony charges, including burglary, grand theft, vehicle theft, and identity theft involving at least 10 victims.
Without the cameras, the police wouldn’t have received a real-time alert, and the suspect might have never been arrested. This could’ve resulted in even more crime. Without the Flock license plate recognition camera, the investigation also might have been a lot longer and less conclusive. The police would’ve had to rely on eyewitness reports, security footage (if available), or other investigative methods instead of instantly having the evidence.
Flock Safety’s obvious customer is law enforcement agencies, but they also sell to property managers, homeowners, retailers, K-12 schools and other places where surveillance could reduce crime. This is actually one of their key differentiators: being able to have more camera coverage (and data integration) in more places.
Flock completed two recent acquisitions. In October 2024, they acquired Aerodome and in January 2025, they acquired Uniform Sierra Aerospace. Both of these companies help push forward Flock Safety’s objective to expand into police drones.
Aerodrome, which was founded in 2023, is the much larger of the two acquisitions (reported for over $300m). They make drones that act as first responders for emergency response situations. Drones are significantly faster and more safe than a human first response: you can imagine one taking off and surveying a crime scene to see if it’s safe for police officers to enter, or as a way to track a suspect in real time.
Uniform Sierra Aerospace, founded in 2021, designs and builds similar autonomous first-response drones. Flock has indicated they want to hire an additional 100 engineers to work on building drones, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of that talent is added via additional future acquisitions.
Veritca Capital Partners buys ARMS (Feb 2024) and In-Synch Systems (Aug 2024)
Category: CAD & RMS
Type: Rollup
Though there is very little public information about these deals, databases Pitchbook and Grata both confirm that Vertica Capital Partners purchased ARMS in February 2024 and then bolted-on in-Synch Systems in August.
Vertica Capital Partners is an enterprise software investor that invests $10-100m into both minority and majority deals. They’ve had a number of investments into travel & experience bookings platforms and also enterprise IT automation companies, though they don’t formally stay in those sub-verticals.
ARMS, also known as EndtoEnd Public Safety, is a fairly traditional vertical SaaS company. It was founded in 1988 and provides Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management Systems (RMS), parking management, a mobile app and some reporting tools to public safety agencies (police departments, school districts, etc.). These tools are the core operating system for public safety work, enabling these agencies to dispatch officers with the right information and track that information for later investigative purposes.
In-Synch Systems was founded just outside of Pittsburgh in 1999. The company was acquired in Aug 2024. They similarly offer RMS to local, regional, and state law enforcement agencies.
I don’t have any private intel on these acquisitions, but if I were to guess, ARMS is likely in the $5-10m ARR range. Vertica spotted an opportunity to buy ARMS as a platform and acquire a number of other small CAD and RMS businesses. I’d expect to see more activity from them soon.
PSG invests in Benchmark Analytics (Jul 2024)
Category: Workforce management
Type: Growth equity
Benchmark Analytics, founded in 2017 by two police officers, is a public safety-focused HR and risk management platform. It helps law enforcement agencies track and analyze personnel data for both traditional HR functions—like performance tracking and promotions—and law enforcement-specific use cases.
The platform’s primary focus is identifying at-risk officers, ensuring compliance, and increasing transparency. For example, if an officer exceeds the agency’s typical threshold for use-of-force incidents, they may be flagged for review, scheduled for a discussion with a supervisor, and required to complete additional training. This prevents misconduct, improves officer performance, and also reduces legal liability (and insurance costs) for the agencies.
PSG, a highly active growth equity investor based in Boston with offices worldwide, has made several other investments into software companies serving various public sector agencies and districts. They have over $10b in total AUM across a number of fund strategies.
