[September 17, 2014]

Leeo Forms to Build Digital Dialogue Between People and Their Homes

Leeo, Inc. made its public debut today with a stated goal of creating and enabling smart home products and services that are simple to use and accessible to all. The company develops products and services for itself as well as select enterprise partners. Founded by RoboteX co-founder Adam Gettings and venture investor Eddy Chan, the company has attracted world-class talent and funding. Since the company's incorporation in 2013, it has raised approximately $37 million in financing.

Built on the idea that smart products and services in the home are too complicated and cost-prohibitive, Leeo's products and services are designed to make smart, simple, plug-and-play devices that help people feel more confident and comfortable in their homes.

With best-in-class capabilities in product design, brand creation, hardware engineering, manufacturing, software development and data science, the company has developed its own Leeo-branded products and services, while simultaneously working alongside strategic partners to enable their Internet of Things initiatives.

Strong Leadership

Leeo has assembled an executive team that includes Gettings - who launched his career as the CTO and chief robot designer at RoboteX, a leading provider of first responder robots - and Chan, a former lawyer at Morrison & Foerster and investment banker with experience in law, finance, corporate development and M&A. As a venture investor in Silicon Valley and Asia, Chan funded and advised startups from inception to exits via IPO and M&A.

Chief operating officer Charles Huang (News - Alert) brings the product development, manufacturing and distribution skills he honed as founder of RedOctane (publisher of Guitar Hero, which has grown to be one of the top selling videogame franchise of all time, earning more than $5 billion to date).

Robert Brunner, founder of San Francisco-based design studio Ammunition serves as Leeo's chief designer. Brunner was chief designer at Beats Electronics, where he helped to create and grow the highly successful Beats by Dr. Dre line of audio products.

Rounding out the team with their data management, technical and engineering expertise are chief technology officer Luke Ivers and chief data advisor Nathan Gettings - each of Palantir Technologies. Gettings co-founded Palantir and served as the company's chief technology officer. Prior to that, he was director of risk and R&D at PayPal, where he was credited with its profitability by building tools to help analysts detect fraud.

"The next great evolution of the Internet will be driven by smart devices producing incomprehensible amounts of data, in real time," said Adam Gettings, CEO of Leeo. "This real-time data will allow for dramatic innovation and efficiency gains. At Leeo, we're building the best team in the world to take on this opportunity."

Investors and Strategic Partners

Leeo is backed by a number of key institutional investors and strategic partners. E.ON (News - Alert), one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies, has joined Leeo as an investor and potential strategic partner. Leeo and E.ON will explore working together to provide custom-designed smart home products and services to the more than 35 million customers served by the utility in more than 10 European countries as well as to develop supporting data management solutions.

Visionnaire Ventures is a global technology investment firm based in San Francisco, California. Visionnaire invests in exceptional teams at the seed, early and growth stages that are leveraging technology to evolve and disrupt Consumer Internet, Mobile, IoT and other emerging technologies. Taizo Son, the chief advisor of Visionnaire Ventures, is a seasoned entrepreneur of many media and technology startups that drive billions in revenues across Asia, US and Europe.

"In my experience, the Leeo team is one of the best compilations of talent needed to win in the IoT space. So, at Visionnaire, we are excited to be part of Leeo's story as it unfolds with their first product and partnerships in US and EU," said Taizo Son, chief advisor of Visionnaire Ventures.

Formation (News - Alert) 8, a leading Silicon Valley technology investment firm, is an investor and strategic partner as well. Formation 8 invests in entrepreneurs who seek to transform the most important global industries by solving hard problems with technology solutions. The firm's portfolio includes flagship companies such as Oculus, RelateIQ, Wish and Illumio.

Other key investors include Yelp Chairman and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and PayPal Board Member and IronPort Systems (News - Alert) co-founder Scott Banister as well as the founders behind leading smart hardware, software, real estate, media and financial institutions across North America, Asia and Europe.

The first smart home product from Leeo will be announced and ship this fall. For more information and hi-resolution images, please visit www.leeo.com. You can follow us on Facebook (News - Alert).com/leeo or on Twitter @leeo.

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