Wyze Labs, the Kirkland, Wash.-based makers of a low-cost, smart home security camera, has raised $20 million in new funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
Wyze was founded by Amazon veterans Yun Zhang, Dave Crosby, Elana Fishman and Dongsheng Song in 2017. The startup launched its WyzeCam camera in October of that year, with 1080p HD video and 14 days of free cloud storage. At $19.99, the price severely undercut the group’s former employer, as Amazon released its own Cloud Cam for $119.99 around the same time.
Fishman appeared on an episode of GeekWire’s “Elevator Pitch” series last summer and said at the time that the company had “sold over a quarter-million units in less than six months.”
In a GeekWire Startup Spotlight in September 2017, Zhang, the company’s CEO, said, “Just like Amazon, we operate on a low margin, high volume, high efficiency, customer-centric and value-driven business model. We believe as long as we focus on value and efficiency and always strive to provide the best customer experience that we can, the business will succeed in the long term.”
The company launched another piece of hardware, the WyzeCam Pan, in May 2018.
In a GeekWire profile last June, Crosby said that it was his belief that e-shoppers aren’t looking for brands like they used to, and that names didn’t hold as much value.
“What people look for is good reviews on Amazon and low prices,” Crosby said. “If you can create that combination than you’ve got a winning product. We all had Amazon DNA. We want to build a company that focuses super hard on customer experience.”
Wyze Labs employed 25 people at the end of 2017.
Aside from the company founders, the SEC filing listed Parker Barrile, a partner at Norwest Venture Partners, and Adam Lin, a general partner at iSeed Ventures. iSeed was Wyze Labs’ seed investor.
GeekWire reached out to the company for comment on the new funding and will update this post when we hear back.
