Quirky, a US-based consumer products maker which realises designs and inventions submitted through an online platform, has raised $79m in series D, of which General Electric (GE) contributed $30m; the round included the participation of venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Norwest Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Quirky has raised over $175m in funding since its launch in 2009. Previously, Quirky raised $68 million in series C funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
GE and Quirky have also expanded their partnership, originally announced in April 2013, to co-develop and launch 30 new products in their connected home devices line over the next five years. The GE/Quirky partnership’s first four products, Nimbus, Egg Minder, Pivot Power Genius and Spotter, were released for sale at the beginning of November. According to GE, the partnership is designed “to drive faster innovation and scale in what will be a $25bn connected devices market.”
GE is supporting Quirky’s Wink platform, an app and software technology standard for home connected devices.
Ben Kaufman, founder and chief executive officer of Quirky said: “I have long admired GE’s 130-year commitment to commercializing invention, which fits with Quirky’s mission to make invention accessible to all. In just six months, our two companies have created a $45 million connected consumer business that we will continue to build on. Our vision is to make the WINK platform the consumer standard adopted by all manufacturers of connected home products.”
Beth Comstock, chief marketing officer, GE, said: “As GE grows its core by connecting its brilliant industrial machines to the Internet, we think it is important that consumers experience connected things in easy-to-use, everyday ways. The Quirky partnership allows us to re-invent our co-branded consumer products in delightful ways by opening up our brand to more ideas and new audiences.”