 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
 | |
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 2009 (2009-01) |
| Founders | Greg Duffy Aamir Virani |
| Fate | Acquired by Google / Nest, rebranded as Nest Cameras |
| Successor | Nest Cam |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | United States Canada |
| Products | Dropcam Pro Cloud Recording Dropcam App |
| Owner | Google Inc (2014–2015) Alphabet Inc. (2015–2024) |
| Parent | Nest Labs (2014–2024) |
| Website | www.dropcam.com |
Dropcam, Inc. was an American technology company headquartered inSan Francisco,California. The company is known for itsWi-Fi video streaming cameras, Dropcam and Dropcam Pro, that allow people to view live feeds through Dropcam's cloud-based service. On June 20, 2014, it was announced thatGoogle'sNest Labs bought Dropcam for $555 million,[1][2] a decision Dropcam co-founder Greg Duffy later described as a "mistake".[3] In June 2015,Nest introduced the Nest Cam,[4] a successor to the Dropcam Pro.[5] Support for Dropcam services ended on April 8, 2024.[6]
Software engineers Greg Duffy and Aamir Virani founded Dropcam in 2009.[7] Duffy served as Dropcam's CEO and Virani served as COO.[8] They originally developed software for cameras made by Swedish companyAXIS. Wanting to develop a less expensive camera, the two companies parted ways and Dropcam started producing its own cameras that primarily providedvideo monitoring for homes and small businesses.[9] Duffy and Virani credit Duffy's dad with at least part of the inspiration for Dropcam.[10] He wanted to identify the neighbor who was letting their dog poop on his lawn but they were having trouble finding a security camera that made it easy to record, stream and monitor large amounts of data.[11][12][13]
Dropcam received early funding from technology investorMitch Kapor,[14] and in June 2012, Dropcam secured $12 million inventure capital funding led byMenlo Ventures and previous investors,Accel Partners and Bay Partners.[15] Dropcam has also received funding from Felicis Ventures andKleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.[16][17] The following year, it received $30 million more in funding led byInstitutional Venture Partners, bringing the total raised to $47.8 million.[18][19] Duffy said Dropcam's revenue grew 500 percent year over year.[18]
Dropcam hosts cloud data throughAmazon Web Services[20] and Duffy said in 2014 that Dropcam presently records more video thanYouTube.[9][21]
Dropcam has become popular in families watching their children,[22] through monitoring pets at home, at pet stores[23] and in adoption centers. Users have also reportedly caught home-burglaries in progress.[24] Duffy has said, “Moms are using it to catch their babies' first steps when they're not around, checking that older kids have arrived home safely; contacting children who are ignoring their cell phones; and sharing footage from birthday parties.”[25]
Due to the success of Dropcam, several companies launched similar products and services in 2014 and 2015, such as SpotCam and simplicam.[26]
In June 2014 Google acquired Dropcam and put it under its Nest Labs. In June 2015, the parent company Nest introduced Nest Cam as a successor to Dropcam Pro.[27]
On April 7, 2023, Google announced that it would end support for both Dropcam andNest Secure on April 8, 2024.[6]
Dropcam provides optional encrypted digital video recording through the cloud. The Cloud Recording service automatically saves video on a rolling basis, so users can review the past week or month of footage, depending on their plan. All users, with or without the service, can still view the live feed.[28] Dropcam allows users to download the video and create video clips while also allowing for the creation of a public stream. About 40% of Dropcam users sign up for the cloud service.[24]
As part of Dropcam's Cloud Recording service, markers are placed on a user's video timeline when motion or audio is detected, so a user may go back and view those specific events rather than watch the whole feed to search for notable activities.[28] Dropcam introduced a beta version of its Activity Recognition feature for Cloud Recording, which learns typical motion patterns in a user's video stream, allowing for customized motion alerts.[29]
