Chinmay Bidkar
After the much fan hype, former Googler and Android creator Andy Rubin’s Essential smartphone was revealed late last month.
The android device named ‘PH-1′, with interesting features was intended to go head-to-head with the top smartphones from Apple and Samsung. Another interesting product of Essential is its home Essential Home, a smart home tech competing with Google’s Nest and Amazon’s Echo.
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In a latest move, the company had raised $300 million to add to its war chest at a valuation of $900 million to $1 billion as per Bloomberg’s report. A huge valuation for a company that hasn’t manufactured any product yet.
The company is helmed by Andy Rubin, who after quitting Google in 2014 started an incubator called PlayGround Global from where Essential was born. The latest round of funding was filed two days before unveiling the product, which proves the value of Andy Rubin’s name in the team, who previously headed the Android unit in Alphabet Inc, owned Google for nearly a decade.
Essential had previously raised $30 million from Rubin’s Playground Global and Redpoint Ventures last year. The company had even reached Softbank’s Vision Fund, but Apple being one of the backers in the $100 billion would’ve been a conflict of interest. Other investors in Essential include venture firm Altimeter Capital, Tencent Holdings Ltd., and Foxconn Technology Group, according to the Essential website.
Speaking of ordering, Essential Phone is available just in the US for now and it costs $749 to reserve it, unlocked and with 128 GB of internal storage, along with the 360-degree camera. For just the phone, it’ll cost $699.
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Image Source: Android Police