PR88189

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

  --New financing from Insight Partners will fuel Plume's accelerating growth--

Plume(R) (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3075200-1&h=2447660271&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.plume.com%2F&a=Plume

), the company behind the smart home service offerings of more than 170

Communications Service Providers (CSPs) served to more than 22 million

households across the globe, today announced that it has closed a $270 million

minority investment from global venture capital and private equity firm Insight

Partners. This Series E round at a $1.35 billion valuation brings Plume's total

equity funding to $397 million.

Photo -

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Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1442338/Plume_Insight_Partners_Logo.jpg

Plume was founded on the premise that a device will only ever be as smart as

the network it's connected to, and that the existing smart home services were

sorely lacking. Instead of attempting to improve only wireless coverage through

distributed hardware, Plume's approach is entirely different – a comprehensive

suite of cloud-controlled front-end services delivered over a smart,

software-defined network. Plume's HomePass(TM) front-end services suite

consists of adaptive and self-optimizing whole-home WiFi, AI driven

cybersecurity and IoT device protection, sophisticated parental supervision,

secure access controls, and motion awareness. HomePass is complemented by a

powerful, data-driven back-end operations platform offering real-time and

predictive customer support tools, network control center applications, deep

analytics, comprehensive dashboards, consumer behavior and satisfaction

insights, churn prediction, and retention marketing services for CSPs through

Plume's Haystack(TM) and Harvest(TM) suites.

Plume will use the funding to further increase investment in research &

development and lean more aggressively into sales, marketing, and partnerships.

The company will seek to continue its rapid product, revenue, customer,

channel, and geographic expansion and plans to add employees in all of its

offices across North America, Europe, and Asia.

"Growth in the smart home category is exploding, but the quality of consumer

experience has fallen short," said Insight Partners Managing Director Ryan

Hinkle, who has been appointed as a director on Plume's board. "We are

convinced that Plume, with its scalable cloud data platform approach, highly

efficient go-to-market strategy, strong momentum, top-quartile financial

performance across all SaaS KPIs – including revenue, growth rates, gross

margin, efficiency and retention metrics – and world class team is transforming

this category. We're delighted to join and support this exciting journey."

Customers benefit from Plume's constantly expanding platform through

OpenSync(TM), the most widely supported open-source, silicon-to-cloud framework

for smart spaces. With OpenSync, CSPs can decouple their service offerings from

hardware and rapidly curate and deliver new services over a multi-vendor,

open-platform architecture. Managed by a massively scalable cloud control

plane, new services can often be delivered without requiring new equipment,

reducing CAPEX spend and extending the useful life of existing infrastructure.

Since its creation in 2018, OpenSync has grown to power more than 26 million

access points and switches across a broad range of silicon SDK and CPE

platforms, and has attracted many third-party developers and contributors.

"We could not be more enthusiastic about welcoming Ryan to our board, and our

partnership with the entire Insight team," said Fahri Diner, Co-founder and CEO

of Plume. "By leveraging machine learning and AI, cloud data, open-source, deep

ecosystem partnerships, and a scalable platform, we uniquely address the

disconnect between the expectations of smart spaces and the service provider's

ability to deliver flawless experiences to them – while building a leading,

high-growth SaaS business in a large, under-served market. An even stronger

balance sheet through this cash infusion, coupled with our high operating

leverage, sets the stage for Plume to continue to invest confidently in our

future."

Jefferies acted as financial advisor to Plume on the transaction.

About Plume

Plume(R) is the creator of the world's first SaaS experience platform for

Communications Service Providers (CSPs) and their subscribers deployed

globally. As the only open and hardware-independent solution, Plume enables the

rapid delivery of new services for connected homes (and beyond) at massive

scale. For consumers, Plume delivers self-optimizing WiFi, cyber-security,

access controls, parental controls, motion sensing, and more. CSPs get robust

back-end applications for unprecedented visibility and both reactive and

pre-emptive support. Plume leverages OpenSync(TM), an open-source framework

which comes pre-integrated and supported on the leading silicon, CPE and

platform SDKs.

Plume's investors include Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, Foxconn,

Insight Partners, Jackson Square Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures, Presidio

Ventures, Qualcomm, Samsung, Service Electric Cablevision, Shaw Ventures,

Silicon Valley Bank, and UpBeat Venture Partners.

Visit www.plume.com, www.plume.com/homepass and www.opensync.io.

Follow Plume on LinkedIn (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3075200-1&h=3681673118&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Fplume-wifi&a=LinkedIn

) and Twitter (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3075200-1&h=2381043213&u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fplume&a=Twitter

).

Plume, HomePass, Haystack, Harvest and OpenSync are trademarks or registered

trademarks of Plume Design, Inc.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm

investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are

driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight

Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised

through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments.

Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary

executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to

foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight

encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create

opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments,

visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

Source - Plume Design, Inc.

CONTACT: Anne Baker, Inkhouse, plume@inkhouse.com