Decentralized emergency response app Cell 411 just received significant support from entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor Marc De Mesel. The investment is comprised entirely of cryptocurrency, including 300 Bitcoin and 10 million NXT, a coin that has been running for two years and has an active decentralized asset exchange.

Virgil Vӑduva, Cell 411’s founder, said this on what attracted this large investment:

“When potential investors, particularly people active in the cryptocurrency markets, see value in an application that has its future in the blockchain, they will put their money where they see a huge opportunity for growth and returns. This initial investment round was one of these encounters, where we were approached by someone willing to help Cell 411 move forward in the market.”

Developing a radically-improved app

This investment is meant to fund the development of the third version of Cell 411, slated to be released later this summer. According to Vӑduva it will feature a greatly improved UI, improvements to the back-end infrastructure, and improved support for live video streaming, as well as other features demanded by users.

“This first round of funding is a huge boost to the development efforts going into Cell 411. We have a long list of features demanded by users and explicit demands from commercial clients like security firms, which are very strong market signals indicating that we are not only filling a need in the marketplace but also creating and shaping a brand new market in personal safety and security. This will allow us to focus very hard on improving the platform, satisfying user demand and building market relationships that we can successfully leverage in order to grow.”

Decentralized vision to help the world

Since its inception, Cell 411 has experienced significant growth, receiving over 40,000 downloads to date. Originally envisioned as a tool to protect against abuse by law enforcement, the app has seen global growth, from adoption by South African farmers to protect against the country’s sky-high murder rate to at least one fire department in the United States using it in place of hiring a dispatcher. Vӑduva, a crypto-anarchist, believes that the growth of systems like these, especially with independent funding in non-governmental currency, can spur the growth of voluntary institutions that will be key in the next step of humanity’s development.