Essential Products Inc., the startup founded by Android creator Andy Rubin has raised $ 330 million in a new funding round from Amazon and Tencent Holding. The company has also signed up with retailers, including Best Buy, Amazon.com and carriers such as Sprint Corporation in the United States and Telus in Canada to sell their first $ 699 smartphone.
The company, in a statement, revealed Access Technology Ventures led the funding round along with strategic investors Tencent Holdings Ltd., electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn and Amazon.com. Existing investors Redpoint Ventures and Playground Global also participated in this round.
The director of Amazon’s investment arm, Alexa Fund, Paul Bernard said, “Essential Products has a compelling vision and road map for connected devices that integrate voice technology in novel ways. We are excited to see Alexa become part of that vision where interacting with technology is simple, helpful and creates an interface that others can build on and innovate. We look forward to what will come from this collaboration.”
This funding round values the company at about $ 900 million to $ 1 billion. The release date for the new smartphone will be announced sometime next week and will compete against the Samsung Galaxy 8 and iPhone 8, set to be released in September and October respectively. The big idea behind the Essential smartphone, according to Andy Rubin, is that this phone will make things simpler for customers.
President Niccolo De Masi, speaking about their new smartphone, said they won’t be targeting mass market popularity in the beginning itself but will take advantage of the company’s small scale to innovate faster than their larger rivals. “If we are able to sell low single digit millions [in the first year] that’s very successful for a startup,” he added.
Andy Rubin recently shared 3 images on Twitter to prove that Essential’s first product will be coming soon.
Essential is also developing a smart home hub similar to Amazon’s Echo, along with the smartphone. The hub will have the ability to control music, answer questions and manage tasks, among other things. The speaker can be set up in no time as its Ambient OS can automatically introduce itself to new and existing devices, according to Essential’s website.
