Nest plans to acquire Dropcam for $550 million, a move that adds home monitoring and cloud storage for video recording to the ecosystem of products offered by the maker of smart thermostats and intelligent smoke detectors.
News of the deal broke June 20, roughly four months after Nest itself was bought out by Google for approximately $3.6 billion.
While not much will change in terms of the products and services the two companies offer, Matt Rogers, Nest's founder and head of engineering, stated Nest and Dropcam plan to work together to unify ecosystems of home automation and surveillance products:
"Eventually, the plan is for us to work together to reinvent products that will help shape the future of the conscious home and bring our shared vision to more and more people around the world. For now, though, not much will change. Dropcam products will still be sold online and in stores. Dropcam customers will still continue to use their Dropcam accounts."
Rogers took time to address the privacy concerns likely to arise with Google now serving as Dropcam's parent company, stating Dropcam customer data will fall under the Nest's privacy policy. A customer's information will be shared with no company, including Google, without the customer first providing authorization to do so.
Greg Duff, CEO of Dropcam, said he and Aamir Virani, the company's COO, said the deal with Nest fits into what the pair had envisioned when they began constructing security cameras by hand and coding software for their home monitoring startup.
"Nest and Dropcam are kindred spirits -- both were born out of frustration with outdated, complicated products that do the opposite of making life better," stated Duff. "After numerous conversations with Nest founders Tony and Matt, it was clear we shared a similar vision. Nest cares as much about customers, privacy and product experiences as we do. Our products and technologies are a natural fit and by joining up with Nest we can fully realize our vision."
Dropcam's home monitoring products include cameras with night vision and zoom capabilities, cameras fitted with microphones for two-way talk, cloud storage for up to a month's worth of recording, and apps that enable users to automate their in-home surveillance systems.
Nest manufactures programmable thermostats that enable users to build a custom heating and cooling schedule -- they can even be used with zoned HVAC systems, allowing users to program climate across different areas of a home or office. The company's smoke and carbon monoxide detectors offer notifications via apps.
