Ring, the smart doorbell producer backed by corporates Qualcomm, JF Shea and American Family, is raising $160m in funding, The Information has reported, citing securities filings and investors.
Founded in 2012, Ring has developed a smart doorbell equipped with a camera and communication system that can be operated through a user’s smartphone. It has since branched out into adjacent areas such as security cameras.
News of the latest funding came two weeks after Ring paid an undisclosed sum to acquire Mr. Beams, a US-based developer of wireless LED lighting fixtures that can sense motion, and it plans to expand into security lights later this year.
The one cloud on the horizon could be a recent lawsuit filed by another smart doorbell maker, Skybell Technologies, alleging that Ring infringed on three patents it holds when it rebranded from DoorBot in 2013.
The round is set to value Ring at almost $1bn and will follow the $109m in debt and equity financing Ring raised in a January 2017 round featuring insurance firm American Family, chipmaker Qualcomm and home builder JF Shea, the latter two through their Qualcomm Ventures and Shea Ventures units.
The round, which took the company’s overall financing to $209m, also included DFJ Growth, True Ventures, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and private investor Richard Branson, while Silicon Valley Bank supplied the debt.
American Family and Shea Ventures have been investors in Ring since its $28m series B round in 2015.
The company’s other backers include True Ventures, CRV, Upfront Ventures, First Round Capital, Queensbridge Venture Partners, Upfront Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and assorted angel investors.
– Image courtesy of Ring.