Elucd

Elucd, founded in 2016 by Michael Simon and Saul Shemesh, operates as a data analytics firm focused on the government technology sector. The company provides cities and particularly law enforcement agencies with a near real-time understanding of public sentiment. This initiative was born from an inquiry by the New York Police Department (NYPD) in 2014 to co-founder Michael Simon, a seasoned data analytics expert known for his work on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Simon's background in political analytics and data science was pivotal in shaping the company's approach to measuring public opinion for governance.

The core of Elucd's business is a technology platform that measures public perception on safety and trust in police. It functions by delivering short, confidential surveys to a city's residents through digital advertisements on commonly used websites and mobile applications. This method allows Elucd to gather continuous feedback from a broad and demographically representative sample of the population, overcoming the limitations of traditional community meetings. The collected data, which is anonymized, is then translated into performance metrics, such as trust and safety scores, on a scale of 0-100. These analytics provide law enforcement leaders with actionable insights to assess the effectiveness of their community policing strategies, direct resources, and build community trust. Clients have included police departments in major cities like New York City, Chicago, and Grand Rapids.

The company's business model is centered on providing its platform as a service to municipal governments and their departments. Elucd secured $1 million in a seed funding round, backed by the Y Combinator accelerator and Omidyar Network, which facilitated its early growth. In a significant milestone, Elucd was acquired by Zencity, another civic engagement technology provider, in March 2021. The acquisition aimed to combine Zencity's analysis of broad community input with Elucd's targeted polling to offer a more comprehensive community insights platform for local governments. Following the acquisition, Michael Simon assumed the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Zencity.

Keywords: public sentiment analysis, govtech, civic engagement technology, police-community relations, community polling, data analytics, public safety metrics, resident feedback, local government solutions, sentiment measurement, trust and safety scores, community trust, real-time analytics, civic technology, survey technology, performance management, Zencity, Michael Simon, neighborhood sentiment