Wyze has always been anything but boring. They have an affordable $20 security camera that makes Ring users wonder if they’ve wasted their money. One of their founders, Dave Crosby, has an adorable singing daughter Claire Crosby that has appeared on Ellen and has 1.5 million subscribers to her YouTube channel. Dave has also been
Now Wyze has announced $20 million in Series A funding in dramatic fashion via a YouTube docudrama. It makes sense. Wyze considers their customers their community and being honest is part of the Wyze DNA. Letting customers in on the struggles of a startup via a documentary style video is a great way to reinforce that trust with their community.
The funding round is led by Norwest Venture Partners and comes on the heels of Wyze’s massive success in selling over 1.5 million units of its first products, Wyze Cam and Wyze Cam Pan, since launching in October 2017. This funding is in addition to the previous seed funding investment from iSeed Ventures.
“We’ve had a singular focus on making pragmatic hardware and software that actually improve people’s lives, and this new capital infusion will help us continue that mission,” said Yun Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO of Wyze. “Without our tremendous and wonderful community, we would never have been able to build a $100 million company in just one year. We’re looking forward to offering them more, and listening to the community’s feedback as we continue to expand into new areas of the home.”
“This is the story about a lemon aid stand,” says Wyze founders and employees. “A story about a guy who put everything on the line. A story about 800,000 people that decided to give a no-name startup in Seattle a shot. A story about a brand that’s about to be a household name. At least that’s the plan. This is a story about you. This is a story about $20 million.”
“Now thanks to you there are 800,000 people at our lemon aid stand,” Wyze says. “Because you gave us such great feedback on the forums and the different social media our product is just getting better and better. Over 80 percent of customers have shared Wyze Cam with a friend. That is amazing. Thank you. That kind of growth is hard to manage.”
“Wyze proved that a smart home camera doesn’t have to be expensive to be great, which has driven adoption across a much broader base of consumers than ever before,” said Parker Barrile, Partner at Norwest Venture Partners. “I’m excited to partner with Yun and his team to build the next generation of smart home devices and services that everyone can afford.”