More than 70 staff at Exton-based Zonoff have joined Santa Monica, Calif.-based “video doorbell” maker Ring, after a plan to sell the venture capital-backed home-automation platform developer to Honeywell for around $40 million “fell through,” reports Stacey Higginbotham of Austin-based StacyOnIT here.
Zonoff raised $32 million and counted Staples as a client back in 2013-14. CEO Mike Harris and CTO Mike Balog weren’t available when I called their Exton offices.
Jamie Siminoff, boss at Ring, told Higginbotham that he was pleased to be able to salvage Zonoff. Siminoff said Harris called him to ask if he’d be interested in Zonoff’s staff and business contacts. Siminoff flew to Philadelphia and offered Zonoff workers their jobs on March 2, shortly after Zonoff laid them off. The company plans to remain in the Philadelphia area and is seeking new space and equipment.
DFJ Growth, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, Sir Richard Branson, and others committed $109 million to Ring in January. Ring employs more than 1,000 and plans more deals.
Why such an abrupt transition? Higginbotham says unnamed sources close to the company told her “Zonoff had been struggling with one of its largest strategic investors, ADT, after it went private in 2016. ADT’s buyer, Apollo Global Management, was more focused on the security side of the business rather than the smart home,” and likely Zonoff acquirers were also ADT competitors, making it tougher for the seller to close a favorable deal.
Apollo, whose investors include the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania state pension funds, is run by partners including Sixers lead owner Josh Harris.
Despite Zonoff’s implosion, Higginbotham notes other home-automation firms have found corporate acquirers — including Austin-based iControl, lately acquired in part by Comcast’s Xfinity Home service and in part by Alarm.com.
Comcast and other investors had committed more than $100 million to building up iControl. Alarm.com paid $140 million for its part of the business; Comcast’s price wasn’t immediately disclosed.
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