The average person spends nearly a year of their lifetime looking for misplaced items. Hardware startup Tile, known for their smart location trackers, has struck a chord with users eager to conserve this precious time.
The company announced last week that it has closed a Series C funding round for an undisclosed amount. Francisco Partners, a private equity firm with a focus on technology, led a minority growth investment that will be used to expand third-party product partnerships.
The capital will be used to further Tile’s international growth, expand into new product categories and add more value to the company’s Premium service.
Users rely on Tile’s technology to help them keep tabs on their electronic devices, luggage, articles of clothing and even their pets. According to the hardware firm, this funding is coming on the heels of impressive growth, including more than doubling unit sales on Prime Day in the United States this year.
“Millions of users already trust us to safeguard their belongings and find misplaced items -- we will continue to deliver on that promise and more. This investment ushers in a new chapter for Tile: with new products and expanded partnerships, we can better solve the everyday pain point of losing or misplacing the things that matter most to our global customer base.”
“Millions of users already trust us to safeguard their belongings and find misplaced items -- we will continue to deliver on that promise and more,” said CJ Prober, Tile CEO, in a statement. “This investment ushers in a new chapter for Tile: with new products and expanded partnerships, we can better solve the everyday pain point of losing or misplacing the things that matter most to our global customer base.”
Tile anticipates growth with its embedded strategy, which kicked off successful product partnerships with companies such as Bose, Skullcandy and Sennheiser, and has since expanded to semiconductor partners like Qualcomm, Nordic and Dialog.
“Tile pioneered the smart location category,” said Andrew Kowal, Partner with Francisco Partners, in a statement. “With Bluetooth technology projected to be included in nearly 30 billion devices shipping in the next five years, Tile is poised to deliver an embedded finding solution for a rapidly expanding market. We are extremely excited to be partnering with Tile as the company enters the next chapter of its growth story.”
Existing investors GGV Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners, as well as new investors Bryant Stibel and SVB Financial Group, also participated in this investment round.