Google feathers its Nest with $555m acquisition of Dropcam
Nest, the Google-owned high tech outfit developing connected appliances, has acquired home video surveillance firm Dropcam for $555m (£326m).
The deal, announced on Friday, is set to boost Nest’s connected product line up, which currently includes a thermostat and smoke alarm that can be remotely controlled by a smartphone.
“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 realise our vision,” said Dropcam chief executive and founder Greg Duffy in a blog post.
Nest founder Matt Rogers said any privacy concerns of the deal, similar to those of when Google acquired Nest, were unfounded.
“Like Nest customer data, Dropcam will come under Nest’s privacy policy, which explains that data won’t be shared with anyone (including Google) without a customer’s permission. Nest has a paid-for business model and ads are not part of our strategy. We’ll apply that same policy to Dropcam too.”