Tile popularized tagging items and tracking them from your phone so they don't get lost with its small Bluetooth tags, but it's suddenly facing more competition from giants like Apple, Amazon, Google and Samsung. The company, which started out as a crowdfunding campaign, announced it will be acquired by Life360, which calls itself "the leading family safety platform." The deal is valued at $205 million and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
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Tile has grown its product line over the years, with a variety of different trackers and partnerships with other companies to use its technology. It also has a subscription service, Tile Premium, with additional features, battery replacements, and insurance for potential losses. However, the game seems to have changed once Apple and Google started building their own tracking capabilities into iPhones and Android devices.
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Life360 bills itself as a comprehensive family safety app, with location sharing among family members, tracking and other features. Over the summer, it announced it had more than 1 million paying customers and said its valuation had topped $1 billion. It also acquired another tracking service, Jiobit, which makes mobile-connected trackers for kids and pets.
Life360 expects the deal to increase the global footprint for both companies and create a larger combined subscriber base. Currently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, Life360 says it has plans for a “potential dual listing in the US” next year.
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In a blog post announcing the Tile acquisition, Life360 CEO and co-founder Chris Hulls says: “Combining Life360 and Tile means security just got a whole lot simpler for millions of families and individuals around the world. We’ll bundle Tile devices as part of our subscription plans, and Tile will offer Life360 membership benefits to its customers. We’ll also start working on integrating our technologies so Tile devices, Jiobit wearables, and Life360 app customers can appear on a unified map – people, pets, and things all in one place.”
