Wednesday, August 27, 2014

FreedomPop's Stokols, Winklevoss Capital Back Smart Outlet Maker Zuli

Stephen Stokols, the CEO of Los Angeles-based Freedompop, as well as Winklevoss Capital, which has recently had a presence in LA, have both invested in a maker of "smart outlets" which turn on using Bluetooth. Zuli, which is based in San Francisco, said it has raised $1.65M in a seed round, which included Menlo Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Logitech, DeNA, XG Ventures, FreedomPop CEO Stephen Stokols, and Hossein Eslambolchi, former CTO of AT&T. Zuli's products turn on electronics and other devices when a user is nearby, similar to Apple's iBeacon concept, letting users automatically turn on lights, appliances, and more depending on where a user is in a house or office. The company said its Zuli Smartplug lets users plug in other devices, and detects when you are nearby, so that--for example--lights will go automatically when a user is in a bedroom, living room, bathroom, or kitchen. More information »