Plume  $300M Round led by SoftBank

Plume, the CA-based proptech platform for home, small firms, and service providers, raised $300 million. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 headed the funding round, bringing the firm's estimate to $2.6 billion.

Established in 2015, the startup which offers a SaaS platform has now successfully raised a total of 697 million dollars.

After raising 270 million dollars in its Series E backed by Insight Partners, Plume's current worth is roughly twice as high as that of its previous capitalization of $1.35 billion.

Plume collaborates with over 240 cable MSOs, telecoms firms, and fixed wireless connectivity providers to deliver controlled Wi-Fi that allows a wide range of smart-home services. 

Fahri Diner, the company's creator and CEO, stated that as more consumers break the cable TV cord and discard the landlines, cable and telecommunication firms are eager to extend the services they sell.

Many companies consider smart connected services as the key to attracting customers in the coming. He added that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and they are attempting to turn the world on its head.

Even though Plume had just acquired a quarter-billion dollars previously this year, Diner said the investor primarily drove the plan to increase additional funds. Plume noted that SoftBank was acquainted with the startup and that the telecom behemoth's knowledge in the field was too hard to give up.

Nagraj Kashyap, the managing associate at SoftBank Investment Firms, claimed that when he was at M12, he declined to engage in Plume because he felt the business was too dependent on producing hardware.

According to Kashyap, Plume has become more reliant on its technology platform in recent years, even turning it up to multiple hardware providers, looking forward to another possibility. He remarked that he had an opportunity to back a terrific business with a smile, although he missed them before.

The latest funds will be used to stimulate the growth of Plume's smart-spaces portal, OpenSync, as well as expand the company's marketing efforts and expand into new countries.

According to Diner, the business primarily works in North America, Europe, plus Japan but plans to expand into South America and the Middle East shortly.

Plume, which employs 475 people, does not provide financial information, but Diner says the firm could be a public corporation in the next year if they chose.

Plume's rivalry largely comes from services that some of its affiliates already supply, such as creating their smart home products, as per Diner.

Because the industry is so large, Kashyap believes that internet behemoths like Amazon and Google may be more interested in delivering similar smart-home services. On the other hand, Kashyap mentions that Plume has an excellent position to become a listed corporation in the future, and Diner has a common aim for the firm's coming years.

Diner stated that he and his company wouldn't have an escape route and all they wanted to do was expand. However, he believes that his firm will become a public corporation at some point.  He sees his empire as a public corporation within two to three years. Plume work with corporations such as Comcast and Charter Communications.