COMPANY

Name: CarmaCam

Legal Name: CarmaCam Inc.

Location: Los Angeles, California

Founded: 2018

Founder(s): Rob Rappaport and Doug Rosenberg

Website: http://www.carma-cam.com/ 

Social Media: 24 likes on Facebook

Industry: Global Surveillance Market

Size: $28000M in 2019 (Source: MarketWatch)

Future: $55000M in 2024 (Source: MarketWatch)

Introduction

CarmaCam offers a web-camera app that seeks to be the “eyes on the road” for instances when the police are not around. This crowdsourced system uses a car dashboard camera to collect videos of bad driving. Then, these videos are reviewed by AI and independent individuals. The ones that are verified as authentic make it to the integrated CarmaCam Traffic Incident Database. This repository is accessible to the likes of police or insurance companies; who have the power to hold bad drivers accountable.

The Product

CarmaCam Safety works by capturing traffic violation videos, via a dashboard camera app. This free web app also automatically records license plate ID, if visible. Then, the video is sent for review along with a report filed by the user. Next, the verified videos are made available to insurance companies and law enforcement.

In case of incidents of really reckless driving (DUI or hit-and-run) that need immediate attention of first responders, users can simply click on the alert icon on the app. This will lead to the capture of a video of the bad driver, which is sent to law enforcement officers closest to the location, in real-time. This way the patrol can rush into action and save some lives. CarmaCam LE product is the product that law enforcers can use to get these updates.

CarmaCam Mobility is yet another offering from the startup that turns video reports of illegal parking and lane violations into citations or warning tickets. This helps enforce parking regulations and even prevent cars from blocking bus lanes etc.

To increase app engagement, CarmaCam also offers added incentive to users in the form of CarmaPoints. These points are linked to the user’s individual license plate number. Every time a user uploads a video of poor driving and its approved by three randomly selected independent reviewers, they earn 100 CarmaPoints. Reviewing another user’s video also gets users 10 CarmaPoints, and so on.

Origin and Founding Team

The eureka moment came to Doug Rosenberg, a serial entrepreneur and engineer from the University of Southern California, when he was braving the LA traffic to work. In an interview with Expert Dojo, he talks about how he almost got involved in an accident, owing to the miscalculation of a bad driver. So, he set out to build CarmaCam; driven by a need to hold bad drivers accountable. Since the startup was on a shoestring budget, he employed interns from USC to develop the software. 

By November 2018, they completed three road tests with LA metro to help reduce the number of cars in bus-only lanes. 

Additionally, CarmaCam is also working towards reducing illegal scooter usage in L.A., Santa Monica, Glendale, and Santa Ana.

Performance and Trends

According to Crunchbase, CarmaCam secured seed funding of $50K from Expert Dojo in January 2019.