Plume — a communications startup that partners with carriers to provide smart mesh Wi-Fi to improve broadband connectivity in homes, and then offers other smart home services on top of that network — has been in the middle of a massive boom in its business fueled by the rapid uptake, use and complete reliance on broadband in the home working as best as it can.
Now it has closed a huge funding round to ride the wave. The Palo Alto-based startup has raised another $300 million led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of $2.6 billion. Plume’s CEO and founder Fahri Diner said the startup will be using the money to continue building out its software platform, inking and servicing more deals with carriers and generally expanding its horizons.
“Two years ago, the killer app was Wi-Fi, managing the pods,” he said, referring to the system of mesh routers that are used to improve the speed and quality of a Wi-Fi network in homes. “That is no longer it, although it’s still a big piece of it. Access control and device security are growing fast, and people are also engaging with our motion sensors since indoor cameras are going away because of privacy reasons. IOT, health, energy management and home security are all areas we have been testing for two years and they work, so we will be leaning into a lot of stuff.”