Plume Design said Comcast has led a $37.5 million investment in the company, which has developed a whole-home “adaptive” WiFi platform.
Plume, which has raised more than $63 million, said other new investors in the round included Samsung Venture Investment Corp., and Presidio Ventures, a unit of J:COM, Japan’s largest cable operator. Existing investors Liberty Global Ventures, Shaw Ventures and Jackson Square Ventures also participated in the latest round, Plume said.
Plume said it will use the new funds to speed the deployment and integration of its product in ISP networks and third-party hardware, toward new products, and for the company’s expansion in Silicon Valley and Europe.
Comcast revealed itself as an investor in Plume last month when it launched Xfinity xFi, a cloud-based home WiFi management platform. Tied in, Comcast said it had a partnership with Plume to develop low-cost, auto-configuring “pods” that plug into power outlets and connect to the home’s gateway to establish a whole-home WiFi mesh network. Comcast will announce pricing when it launches those xFi-optimized pods later this year.
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Tyson Marian, vice president of strategic development at Comcast Cable, has joined Plume's board.
"Delivering fast and reliable connectivity in every corner of the home with an intuitive user experience is a key initiative for operators,” Marian said in a statement. "We see Plume's cloud-based approach as a core ingredient of our own Xfinity xFi platform: secure, no-configuration and cost effective whole-home connectivity that can be offered and managed at scale.”
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Samsung, meanwhile, said it will work with Plume to deploy “advanced WiFi connectivity” for its line of IoT devices.
Plume, which counts eero, Luma, Netgear, Linksys, Google and AirTies among its competitors, sells individual pods directly for $69, a three pack for $179, and a six pack for $329.
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