Blink Camera is a brand of wireless Home Security System cameras which are easy to install and operate. But who owns Blink Camera and its parent company Blink Health? It is now about time to delve deeper into the history and ownership of this home technology company.
Blink Camera was established in the year 2014 by Peter Besen and Greg Galvan. The company was initially founded in Boston and was financed through venture capital. In their project, Besen and Galvan aimed at developing a basic smart home security system that would include wireless high-definition cameras that can be controlled through a smartphone application exclusively.
Within just two years, Blink had released its first product: the Blink indoor and outdoor security cameras. These completely wireless cameras offered features such as motion detection, night vision, up to 2 years of battery life, free cloud storage, and remote control through a smartphone application. Notably, the cameras were cheap and sold at less than one hundred dollars, making them cheaper than other competitors.
Consumers appreciated Blink’s easy installation process and affordable smart home security offering. By the year 2016, Blink Camera was selling at a very fast rate and the young company was appreciated. In that year, Besen and Galvan were able to present their budding enterprise on the reality TV show ABC, known as Shark Tank, and even get an offer from the investor, Robert Herjavec.
Yet, still not close to becoming profitable, in December 2017, Blink was bought out by Amazon. The HQ store bought Blink as a part of its strategic move to enter the fast-growing smart home industry for approximately ninety million US dollars for the acquisition of the startup. Blink at Amazon was assimilated into other Amazon-owned brands such as Ring, and Alexa.
Therefore as of now, Blink Camera is wholly owned by Amazon through its affiliates. Thus, it appears that Amazon is very keen on further developing the Blink brand as a part of its portfolio. Since its acquisition, Amazon has launched newer generations of Blink Camera, as well as adding more software capabilities and deepening Blink’s integration with Alexa voice assistant. Blink also uses Amazon’s massive distribution channels to sell products around the world.
However, it is also important to note that the Blink brand falls under Amazon ownership, which does affect some aspects of the Blink brand that would be appealing to privacy-conscious consumers. First, before using Blink Cameras, a user has to sign in to their Amazon account while before, you could only sign up for a Blink account solely for the cameras. It is also important to note that there are issues of data sharing with Amazon. Future integrations with Amazon Alexa products under development may limit Blink from working as a freestanding cross-platform brand in the future.
However, the company has since grown from an Amazon-backed startup to an industry player offering cheap, entry-level home security solutions. The sales are escalating but wireless security cameras are yet to become established in the market. Given how integral Blink is to Amazon’s business, it appears that the e-commerce behemoth has no plans to slow down its expansion of the brand in the next few years.
Thus, even though it is no longer an independent business, the vision of its founders is being continued under Amazon ownership. To the average customer, Blink remains an affordable, convenient means of creating an initial home security system with attributes like motion sensors, night vision, battery-powered, and mobile application control. The acquisition by Amazon may have helped supercharge Blink’s aggressive goal of democratizing smart home devices.
As for the future, it will be intriguing to observe how Amazon decides to extend Blink products and features related to the voice assistant, Alexa. There also may be increasing integrations with other Amazon-owned brands like Ring. However, the key fundamentals that Blink’s wireless cameras stand out for affordable price, easy installation, and battery and they are expected to remain so with Amazon fully in charge.
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