For a driver whose car has been towed, the process is a stressful black box. For the police officer who ordered the tow, it is a paperwork headache. For the small startup Appellate Technologies, that shared frustration is a wedge into a stubbornly analog corner of public safety.
Founded by retired police officer Chase Lawson and Michael Mahon, the Columbia, Maryland-based company is building ASTRO, a software platform designed to manage the entire lifecycle of a police-ordered tow. The goal is to bring digital order to a process that remains largely manual, paper-based, and prone to disputes over fees and procedures [Technical.ly, 2024]. The company recently closed a $765,000 seed round at a reported $10 million valuation, backed by angel investors from the public safety tech sector [Technical.ly, 2024].
The Wedge of a Former Officer
Appellate's founding insight is rooted in Lawson's five years on the force. The standard of care for police towing today is a fragmented system of phone calls, paper logs, and disparate record-keeping between the agency, the tow yard, and the vehicle owner. This lack of a central, auditable system can lead to confusion, lost revenue for municipalities, and the potential for drivers to face inconsistent or predatory fees from tow operators.
ASTRO acts as a central hub. It allows an officer to log a tow request, automatically notifies a rotation of approved operators, tracks the vehicle's location and status, and generates a digital record accessible to all parties. The platform's core promise is transparency, giving drivers a clear view of fees and procedures while giving police departments a tool for compliance and audit trails. Its first customer is the Castle Shannon Police Department in Western Pennsylvania, with discussions reported in other jurisdictions in Maryland and West Virginia [Technical.ly, 2024].
Navigating a Niche Govtech Vertica
The market for law enforcement software is crowded, but specialized towing management represents a narrow slice. Competitors like Towbook, Autura, and TowMagic offer broader fleet and logistics software, often targeting the tow operators themselves rather than the police agencies that initiate the impounds. Appellate's bet is that by focusing exclusively on the public safety workflow, it can build a product that deeply understands the regulatory and operational constraints of police work.
The company's early backing from angels linked to firms like Flock Safety and Utility suggests investors see a path in this specific govtech niche, where founder credibility and domain expertise are often prerequisites for a sale [Technical.ly, 2024]. The startup's reported $10 million post-money valuation, however, presents a high bar to clear. It implies significant growth expectations from a standing start with a single pilot department.
The Roadmap and the Risks
For Appellate, the immediate roadmap is clear: prove product-market fit beyond the initial pilot. Success will be measured by the pace of new department signings and the depth of usage within them. The company must demonstrate that its software not only digitizes a process but tangibly improves outcomes for all three user groups: reducing administrative burden for officers, ensuring fair and consistent billing for drivers, and providing reliable workflow for tow operators.
The risks here are familiar for any early-stage govtech startup.
- Sales cycle inertia. Selling to municipal police departments is notoriously slow, often hinging on budget cycles and procurement rules that favor incumbent, generalized solutions.
- Feature scope creep. The temptation to expand beyond the core towing workflow to become a broader public safety platform could dilute focus before the initial wedge is secure.
- Competitive response. Established players with deeper pockets and existing relationships in law enforcement could decide to build or buy a similar module, leveraging their broader suite.
The patient population here is not a medical one, but an operational one: municipal police departments, particularly in small to mid-sized cities, and the citizens who interact with them during a stressful towing event. The standard of care today is a phone, a notepad, and a hope that the paper trail doesn't get lost. If Appellate can replace that with a shared, transparent digital record, it will have solved a real, if unglamorous, problem at the intersection of civic tech and daily life.
Sources
- [Technical.ly, 2024] This Maryland startup helps drivers avoid overpaying tow companies | https://technical.ly/entrepreneurship/appellate-technologies-startup-tow-overcharges-maryland/
- [StreetInsider, 2026] Form D Appellate Technologies | https://www.streetinsider.com/SEC+Filings/Form+D+Appellate+Technologies,/24416048.html