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Early Success Leads Owl Car Cam to $10M in Funding to Expand Production
[August 14, 2018]

Early Success Leads Owl Car Cam to $10M in Funding to Expand Production


Today, Owl Cameras announced the company has attracted $10M in new funding, an expansion to their previously announced Series A round. The Series A1 Round was led by Canvas Ventures who invested alongside many who participated in the company's Series A. This additional investment brings the company's total venture funding to $28M.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180814005199/en/

Owl Camera (Photo: Business Wire)

Owl Camera (Photo: Business Wire)

Every year, one in two American families are impacted by dangerous and costly events centered around the car, at a cost of more than $82 billion in loss and damages. Owl Cameras addresses this enormous problem.

Owl Car Cam was originally launched only for iOS, and initial inventory sold out in a matter of weeks. The company also received tremendous interest from Android (News - Alert) users. The company has increased production and is now shipping new orders immediately. And starting today, Owl is available for both Android and iOS users with:

  • Instant Video right to your phone and privacy-locked
  • Video Alerts for break-ins, dings, and dents
  • Dual HD cameras, inside and out
  • Live View of your car from anywhere, anytime over LTE (News - Alert)

Owl also announced today a completely redesigned app experience, alongside new software and firmware features including:

  • Available for Android: download today from Google (News - Alert) Play.
  • Complete UI redesign: Owl Car Cam App now works in portrait mode, and we've made it easier than ever to find, watch, and share your clips.
  • Enhanced Car Finder: see you and your car on a map - right on the Car Cam screen in the app - anytime, anywhere

Rebecca Lynn, General Partner at Canvas Ventures, will join the Owl Board of Directors as a part of their investment, and had the following to say about the company: "We decided to invest in Owl for two reasons: the market opportunity and the team. People need and want video security around their cars, and Owl's traction in the last six months shows customers ove their Owl Car Cams. We've seen a lot of pent-up demand for car security, and Owl is tapping into that demand with a product that's easy to install and use. This is a testament to the team's decades of experience building mega-hits like the iPod, iPhone (News - Alert), and Dropcam, and gives them a huge leg up in creating a device and service people feel excited to use every day."



Stats on Owl Car Cam's Instant Video Service since launch include:

  • Multiple car break-ins every week, with Owl video clips leading to the identification of suspects within 24 hours. - bit.ly/2vLKs8P
  • Hundreds of crashes and near-misses on the road
  • 78,000 voice triggered clips
  • 3,500 Owl videos submitted to Owl's daily video contest

Examples Caught on Owl: bit.ly/2KvzcmA


"We knew from the beginning that cars needed video security badly. The results we've seen from our community of drivers in the months since launch - from catching thieves after break-ins, to helping innocent victims avoid blame in crashes - have far exceeded our expectations," said Andy Hodge, Founder and CEO of Owl. "With results this good in just the early days, we are clearly onto something huge. Now, with additional funding and increased production, we're ready to turn this growing trend into something you see on every road in America."

When driving, the Owl Car Cam captures everything on the road including:

? Crashes

? Near-misses

? Police stops

? Odd or delightful things on the road

When parked, Owl is always on-guard ready to send Video Alerts straight to the user's phone when it senses:

? Bumps in parking lots

? Impacts

? Broken glass

The combination of Owl's Video Alerts and Instant Video access over LTE means that all of this footage, is easily accessible in seconds to use for:

? Insurance claims

? Identification of suspects

? Sharing with family and friends

All Owl video is Privacy Locked on the camera and within the Owl app, so video is completely private unless the customer chooses to share it footage.

The Owl Car Cam sells as a bundle for $349, which includes 1 year of LTE Instant Video service. The service includes unlimited Video Alerts and 60 minutes of remote making and viewing of video per month. After the first year, users can renew 12 months of the Instant Video Service for $99 (or $10 per month) and, should a user ever run out of minutes during a month, 60 more minutes are available to purchase for $5 through the Owl app. Without the Instant Video service, users can still access all their video over a direct Wi-Fi connection.

About Owl:

At Owl we love cars and the people in them. We noticed that video security was missing where the most happens: around our cars. In the past we've been leaders on the teams that built iPod, iPhone, HoloLens and Dropcam. Now, we're bringing you Owl. Owl is based in Palo Alto, CA.

About Canvas

Founded in 2013, Canvas is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley with general partners Rebecca Lynn, Paul Hsiao and Gary Little. Prior to founding Canvas, the partners led the Series B investment in Lending Club and the Series A investment in MuleSoft, two of the top-10 IPOs in the US since 2013 according to The New York Times. The firm's key investment areas include online marketplaces, AI/machine learning, digital health, fintech, and "new enterprise." Canvas portfolio companies include: 11 HonorĂ©, Casetext, eporta, Eden, Everwise, Figure Eight, Fluxx, Folloze, FutureAdvisor, Gabi, HealthLoop, Hustle, KIDBOX, Kinetica, Luminar Technologies, Platform9, Roofstock, Thrive Global, Totango, Transfix, Vida Health, Viewics, and Zola. Other investments the partners have made prior to founding Canvas include: Houzz, Evernote (News - Alert), NexTag, Check, Doximity, Upwork, and more. www.canvas.vc.


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