Tile Gets $3 Million from Khosla Ventures. Tops 2 Million Finder Devices Sold

Crowdfunding success Tile has received a capital infusion from Khosla Ventures in the amount of $3 million. The “Series A extension” comes at a time when the young company reports it has shipped over 2 million devices as it closes in on its 2nd anniversary.  The new funding is additive to the $13 million previously raised which was led by GGV Capital.  Tile is expected to initiate a Series B funding round at some point in the near future.Khosla Ventures in the amount of $3 million. The “Series A extension” comes at a time when the young company reports it has shipped over 2 million devices as it closes in on its 2nd anniversary.  The new funding is additive to the $13 million previously raised which was led by GGV Capital.  Tile is expected to initiate a Series B funding round at some point in the near future.

Tile was one of the first super successful self-crowdfunding campaigns.  Paving the path for a number of high profile hardware projects, Tile launched in June of 2013 with a resounding success.  Avoiding namebrand crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, co-founder and CEO Nick Evans leveraged his experience at Lockitron and Pebble to launch a Selfstarter campaign.  Tiles success not only helped trailblaze the way for other self-crowdfunding projects but also spawned a legion of similar devices in a now very competitive space.

Tile today is a more established venture. The company reports they have expanded into Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia.  Employee count has recently tripled. The operation is now managed by co-Founder Mike Farley who took over as CEO;

“Growing a successful company depends on having the right partners, which is why we are proud to announce our new relationship with Khosla,” said Farley. “Our growth has been fueled by a global community that tiles the things that they love. This funding allows us to continue scaling to meet the needs of our growing community and, ultimately, expand the Tile platform to meet new needs.”

Khosla Ventures believes there is opportunity in growing Tiles’ interconnected community;

“Investing in Tile was an easy choice for Khosla because they are the first mass market IoT company we have seen really take shape,” said Keith Rabois, Investment Partner, Khosla Ventures. “While others are imagining the possibility of IoT, Tile’s members are actively connecting their most important things to the internet. The potential value of the Tile community and the data it generates every day is hugely promising.”

Tile is a simple, yet elegant device that attaches to just about anything.  Using BLE, Tile allows a user to locate items by using an App on their smartphone.  The Tile item finder takes the concept a step further by daisy-chaining across the network of other Tile users thus extending the potential reach of the bluetooth device.