Aurelian raises $14M to automate non-emergency 911 calls with AI

Aurelian has raised $14 million in Series A funding to expand its AI system that handles non-emergency 911 calls across the United States. The company, which pivoted from automating hair salon bookings, now serves nearly 5 million Americans by automating an average of three-quarters of non-emergency calls—saving dispatchers approximately three hours per day and allowing them to focus on genuine emergencies.

Why this matters: Emergency communications centers face critical understaffing and high turnover rates, with dispatchers often working 12- to 16-hour shifts handling everything from life-threatening emergencies to routine parking complaints.

How it works: Aurelian’s AI system automatically processes non-emergency calls like noise complaints and parking violations without requiring human dispatcher intervention.
• The technology launched in 2024 and currently handles routine administrative calls that traditionally burden emergency operators.
• By filtering out non-critical calls, the system allows trained emergency dispatchers to concentrate on situations that actually require immediate human response.

The bigger picture: This funding reflects a broader trend of AI taking over customer service and administrative roles across industries.
• Airbnb, the vacation rental platform, reported in May that half its users now turn to AI bots for customer service issues.
• Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revealed in June that AI handles 30% to 50% of his company’s engineering, coding, support, and service work.
• Benioff predicts the “digital labor revolution” will add $3 trillion to $12 trillion worth of digital labor through AI agents and robots.

What they’re saying: CEO and co-founder Max Keenan emphasized the human impact of dispatcher burnout.
• “911 call-takers are trained to handle emergencies, not parking complaints,” Keenan said. “Aurelian reduces burnout and helps telecommunicators stay focused on the most critical situations.”
• “We think that these telecommunicators should have a chance of taking a break or go to the bathroom,” he added, highlighting the demanding nature of dispatcher work.
• Benioff noted the broader implications: “All of us have to get our head around this idea that AI can do things that before, we were doing, and we can move on to do higher-value work.”