I'm surprised this isn't at the top of the frontpage. This is big vindication of all hardware startups. Will VCs go big in this category after this series of exits?
Hardware is pretty freaking hard. Just look at recent examples of public hardware companies: FitBit / GoPro. Both doing like crap, struggling to maintain their grab on the market and looking for acquirers.
Honestly, I think this is a very unattractive sector, at least in this side of the world. Most serious hardware contenders are and will keep coming from China (DJI, Xiaomi, Yi, etc).
Disclaimer: I work for Fitbit but speak only for myself.
Hardware startups have been bought before. This isn't a unique event.
I worked for a hardware startup for a couple of years and VCs being cautious about the category is very well deserved.
It is easily an order of magnitude harder to develop a successful hardware product than a success software product. And even after you've sold a million of them a design defect could show itself that makes all million of them break and destroys your entire company overnight.
It's doable but very hard.
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ring#section-locked-...
Looking at that it looks like at least $200 million in funding was raised. The kinds of exits for software companies that have raised over $200 million generally look very different.