Stanford-backed wifi system developer Eero has been picked up by Amazon after launching a product designed to provide high performance for devices including smart home products.

Eero, a US-based household wifi system developer that counts Stanford University among its investors, was bought by e-commerce firm Amazon for an undisclosed sum on Monday. The transaction will close once customary closing conditions are fulfilled. Founded in 2014, Eero sells a household wifi networking system that synchronises transmissions from multiple access points to provide high performance and comprehensive connectivity for devices such as smart home products. The system can be set up through a mobile app and is intended as an improvement on traditional home wifi products that are prone to dropouts and sluggish data transfer speeds when accessed from certain locations. Eero made 30 redundancies in February 2018, equivalent to approximately 20% of its headcount, according to TechCrunch. The company had raised approximately $83.3m in funding before the acquisition, including $5m supplied in a Stanford-backed round in February 2015 that also included Menlo Ventures, First Round Ventures, Homebrew Ventures and unnamed additional investors. Eero subsequently disclosed $28.3m in an equity round with undisclosed investors that December, according to a filing, before securing $50m in a growth round the following year led by Menlo Ventures and backed by Index Capital, First Round Capital, Shasta Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Playground Global and undisclosed other investors. Dave Limp, senior vice-president of Amazon’s devices and services unit, said: “We are incredibly impressed with the Eero team and how quickly they invented a wifi solution that makes connected devices just work. “We have a shared vision that the smart home experience can get even easier, and we are committed to continue innovating on behalf of customers.” – Feature image courtesy of Eero

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