Domestic violence has always been a problem, but instances increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the best of circumstances, victims often have a hard time leaving their abusers for many reasons.
Thankfully, countless startup companies have been addressing domestic violence with technology, AI, and more to help abuse victims. From legal advice to temporary housing, these are the top startups tackling domestic violence.
Disclaimer: With so many exciting startups launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.
Companies Addressing Domestic Violence
1. Callisto
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Founder(s): Jess Ladd
- Founded In: 2015
- Funding: Seed, $120,000
- Investors Include: Y Combinator
Callisto is a nonprofit that creates technology to combat sexual assault and harassment. The company’s platform allows survivors to securely document and report incidents with an option to only submit the report if someone else names the same perpetrator. This unique matching system helps identify repeat offenders and empowers survivors to take action when they’re ready.
2. FreeFrom
- Location: Los Angeles, California
- Founder(s): Sonya Passi
- Founded In: 2016
- Funding: Grant, $150,000
- Investors Include: The Workers Lab, The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
FreeFrom founder and CEO Sonya Passi has been a domestic violence activist since she was 16 years old. She launched her startup in 2016 to transform the domestic violence movement, paying particular attention to financial security and long-term safety for survivors. To help survivors support themselves and their families, FreeFrom provides them with entrepreneurship training. Participants receive pro bono legal advice, marketing advice, mentoring, and website and logo help.
3. Chayn
- Location: London, England
- Founder(s): Hera Hussain
- Founded In: 2013
- Funding: Grant, $80,000
- Investors Include: Goldman Sachs Gives
Chayn is a global nonprofit that leverages technology to empower women facing violence and oppression. The company provides multilingual, open-source, online resources and tools for women experiencing abuse. Chayn’s projects include guides on how to build a domestic violence case without a lawyer, digital security, and mental health support.
4. LadyDriver
- Location: São Paulo, Brazil
- Founder(s): Bianca Saad, Gabryella Correa, Raquel Correa
- Founded In: 2016
- Funding: Seed, $500,000
- Investors Include: KICK Ventures
Gabriela Corrêa created São Paulo startup LadyDriver after a cab driver harassed her outside a bar. Terrified and unsure what to do, she knew she wanted to protect other women from the same fear. In response, she created LadyDriver, a Brazilian car-hailing app that only accepts women passengers and only has women drivers. With hundreds of thousands of users, it’s clear the ladies appreciate the app.
5. Paladin
- Location: New York, New York
- Founder(s): Felicity Conrad, Kristen Sonday
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Series A, $12 Million
- Investors Include: Hyde Park Venture Partners, World Within, Tech Square Ventures
While justice tech company Paladin wasn’t created specifically to help survivors of domestic violence, it is helping them significantly. Paladin is a portal that brings together legal teams looking to help vulnerable communities gain legal representation through pro bono work. According to co-founder Kristen Sonday, the program was beneficial for victims of domestic violence who had to isolate themselves with their abusers during the COVID-19 pandemic..
6. VictimsVoice
- Location: Princeton, New Jersey
- Founder(s): Charles Gattsek, Sheri Kurdakul
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Unknown
Social impact startup VictimsVoice is making it easier to process domestic violence incidents. The Princeton-based company provides a simple, legally admissible way for victims to document incidents in a complete, consistent, secure, and private manner. Their app, “VictimsVoice Progressive Web App,” guides users through a series of questions to collect pertinent information and make it admissible in a US court of law. Victims may also upload videos and images if they choose.
7. Safelet
- Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Founder(s): Herman Veenstra
- Founded In: 2015
- Funding: Undisclosed
- Investors Include: InvestinFuture
Created by Dutch company Everfind, Safelet is a safety bracelet that allows the wearer to send out an alert whenever they feel they’re in danger. It can be activated much faster than a mobile phone and offers essential information to those on the receiving end of the emergency alert. Users must download the Safelet app, which pairs the bracelet with their smartphone, and choose who to alert (friends and family or the police). When the bracelet is activated, it sends a message with the user’s exact location to their “guardians” and starts recording audio data.
8. BestyBnB
- Location: Kansas City, Missouri
- Founder(s): Andy Bond, Matt Krentz
- Founded In: 2020
- Funding: Grant, $2.23 Million
- Investors Include: Sally Root, Purina’s Pet Care Innovation Prize
Midwest startup BestyBnB is helping domestic violence survivors across the country find temporary housing for their fur babies while they seek shelter from an abusive relationship. The company allows partnered domestic abuse shelters and other charitable organizations to search for animal caregivers in their network. They currently work with numerous shelters in Missouri and are working on expanding across the US.