SINGAPORE & MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. & LONDON & HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hubble Connected (Hubble), the global leader of connected nursery products sold under the Motorola brand, announces today the intent to acquire Kaishi Pte Ltd (Kaishi), maker of the award-winning fetal heart-rate listening device.
As the first company to offer a full suite of connected nursery products beyond hardware, the acquisition of Kaishi enables Hubble to extend its cutting-edge portfolio into the prenatal stage with both an innovative IoT device and a social platform that allows parents the anytime, anywhere ability to track their baby’s development from 18 weeks of gestation through three years of age. The deal also represents the first acquisition of a company incubated by BCG Digital Ventures in California, since it was founded a mere 3 years ago.
The companies will integrate their mobile app platforms to allow the full family of Motorola-branded nursery devices to be monitored in one easy-to-use app, providing a rich source of relevant content and community features to all its users. This transaction solidifies Hubble as the leader of the fast-growing digital nursery space, and creates a huge opportunity for global brands to engage digitally with expectant mothers and mothers of young children via the Hubble platform.
Launched Q4 2016 in China, Kaishi has won multiple prestigious international awards over the past 12 months. With over 160,000 registered users to date, sales continue to increase as the device rolls out across China. Driving this rapid success is Kaishi’s unique online platform which allows parents to safely listen to fetal heartbeat on their smartphones, share the heartbeat with friends, and swap parenting tips on the Kaishi mobile app. Over 90% of expectant mothers who have used the device report high levels of satisfaction and would recommend it to their friends.
Steve Mallouk, Co-Founder and CEO, Kaishi, said: “Kaishi’s acquisition by Hubble is a huge leap forward for us. It will accelerate Kaishi’s release into new markets and drive long-term growth both in and out of China. Hubble and Kaishi share a common vision of being the global leader in the connected nursery space, centered around a simple, unified, digital platform for young families. My team and I are all very excited about joining Hubble.”
As the global leader in connected nursery products, Hubble plans to launch the Kaishi device in English speaking countries by Q4 2017, further strengthening their foothold in these regions. At the same time, Hubble also plans to leverage the Kaishi team in Shanghai to launch its extended family of Motorola-branded, connected nursery devices into China, the largest pregnancy market in the world.
Dino Lalvani, Founder and CEO of Hubble Connected, said: “Hubble is extremely excited by the opportunity that acquiring the Kaishi prenatal device provides, both to strengthen our core mission of being the global leader in the connected nursery space, and to build a more substantive relationship with young parents as they confront a range of new category and product choices at this pivotal life moment. Integrating Kaishi into Hubble’s platform also allows us to partner more effectively with leading global baby care brands and retailers, connecting them in innovative ways to expecting and new parents. We are delighted to be able to roll Kaishi out across Europe and the U.S.”
On the first successful acquisition of a company incubated by BCG DV Jeff Schumacher, Founder and CEO of BCG DV said, “DV creates investible, scalable platforms that can partner with global brands to create a meaningful impact in business categories and true exits, and as DV’s first exit, Kaishi is a validation of our innovation model. This is one of the first companies we founded, and we’re excited to see it accelerate its growth and impact under its new owners. It’s a true example of what we practice at DV--building companies to scale. Both Hubble and DV possess a shared vision for the large potential of IoT platforms that connect the emotional world and will continue to collaborate to make it a reality.”
ABOUT HUBBLE CONNECTED & BINATONE
Hubble is a market leading mobile & cloud driven IoT platform that makes it easy to stay connected with your “Emotional World”™: favorite people, places and pets with live video streaming, analytics and up-to-date smart notifications wherever you are. Hubble delivers secure and robust cloud-based storage with low-latency, rich data recall, as well as domain-specific analytics, making it the ideal platform for products connecting people to the things that matter most to them. From baby nursery cameras with emotionalytics™ to pet trackers, to zonal home security, Hubble is the glue that connects the “Emotional Home”™. Hubble provides its customers with complete end to end integrated IOT solutions. Hubble is part of the Binatone Global Group. For more information, visit http://hubbleconnected.com.
Binatone is a leading provider of innovative consumer electronics and lifestyle products for a broad range of applications including baby nursery, pet nursery and family connectivity at home. Binatone is an official Motorola licensee, and also markets consumer electronics under the AEG, Binatone and iDECT brands. For more information, visit www.binatoneglobal.com.
About Kaishi Pte Ltd
Kaishi is the world’s first 100% safe fetal heart-rate listening device. It allows expectant mothers to listen to their developing baby's heartbeat on a mobile phone, and to record and share that heartbeat with family and friends over social media. The XinKaishi mobile app also provides mothers-to-be with personalized and contextually relevant health information validated by medical experts, and it connects growing families with rich content, media and community features and high-quality, value-added products and services.
Kaishi recently launched in China and already has over 160,000 registered users of its app. It received the 2017 CES Audience Choice award for best new BabyTech device, and has received two Spark Design Awards in the categories of health and product design. It was also awarded the Best High Tech Company in China award from Babytree (leading Chinese parent website), and the Rising Star Award from Yuer (as voted by 100,000 Chinese mothers). It will be launching in major global markets in English by the end of 2017.
The Kaishi technology was developed in California as a partnership at the BCG Digital Ventures innovation lab. It is now headquartered in Singapore with a significant team presence in Shanghai. To learn more about how Kaishi is nurturing the future generation, please visit www.mykaishi.com.
About BCG Digital Ventures
BCG Digital Ventures is a corporate innovation, incubation and investment arm of The Boston Consulting Group. We invent, build, scale, and invest in businesses with the world’s most influential companies. DV’s global network of Innovation Centers span four continents and are home to a diverse range of entrepreneurs, operators, engineers, and investors. For further information, please visit www.bcgdv.com.