Amazon has just purchased Ring, a company most famous for its smart doorbells. The cost? A reported $1 billion according to Reuters, making this one of Amazon's largest acquisitions in history. Ring will likely be kept as an independent business, though its products will likely see integration with Amazon's own.
Spokespersons from both Ring and Amazon have confirmed the deal. Ring was last valued at $760 million, having raised $209 million thus far, according to Pitchbook. Amazon likely made the purchase for better integration with products like Amazon Key, the service that lets deliverymen into your house to drop your packages off. That being said, Amazon has partnered with Ring in the past via Alexa Fund, a fund that invests in companies utilizing Alexa voice tech.
Back in 2013, Ring, then known as doorbot, was rejected by four "sharks" on the popular TV show Shark Tank, with the final shark, Kevin O'Leary, putting an offer on the table that was too low for doorbot. Ring CEO and founder Jamie Siminoff says he left in tears, as he'd spent $10,000 in props and had eight people preparing for a month for the presentation. All this just goes to show that even companies that don't initially experience success can become as prominent a player as Ring has.