Smart wireless router startup eero raises about $35M in new funding, gains FCC approval, but delays shipping to early 2016
Waiting sucks. Especially when it's … Aaron Tilley / Forbes : WiFi Router Maker Eero Scores $40 Million From Android-Creator Andy Rubin And Early Nest Investor Michael Brown / TechHive : Eero delays delivery of its mesh-network router, but gains investors Ina Fried / Re/code : Eero Delays Its Smart Router Yet Again, Nabs New VC Funding Nonetheless USA Today : Eero WiFi solution hits one-year delay, gets $35M funding Nathan McAlone / Business Insider : This startup wants to make sure you never have spotty WiFi again — and it's raised $40 million
Context & Ripple Effects
Eero introduced its mesh-network pitch in early 2015 as a set of boxes meant to eliminate home WiFi dead-spots (a multi-node approach to blanketing a house). Six months past its original shipping window, the company now holds FCC approval but has pushed delivery into early 2016 — while raising roughly $35M more from Andy Rubin and Michael Brown, the latter an early Nest investor whose backing signals smart-home pedigree rather than pure router play.
The delay lands in a market that is filling fast: Luma had already banked 60K preorders and closed a $12.5M Series A by April 2016, so every slipped quarter hands rivals room to define the mesh-router category first.
First-order effects
- Preorder customers wait another quarter-plus for hardware that was originally promised for 2015, while the FCC approval removes the last regulatory gate before actual units can ship.
- The ~$35M round gives Eero runway to survive the delayed launch and fund a manufacturing ramp it has not yet demonstrated it can hit.
Second-order effects
- Rival Luma, already holding tens of thousands of preorders, gets a window to capture buyers Eero keeps deferring — forcing Eero's go-to-market toward retail channels, which materialized in its subsequent $50M Menlo-led raise with Best Buy placement.
- Investor names like Rubin and Brown raise expectations beyond commodity routing: capital now flows on the promise of a managed home-networking platform, pressuring competitors to match software-layer features, not just boxes.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, hardware-only mesh routers become untenable economics: Eero's own trajectory runs through repeated raises, a layoff of ~30 staff refocusing the core business, and a shift to recurring revenue via its $9.99/month Eero Plus subscription — the subscription layer becomes what justifies the hardware.
- Home networking consolidates around venture-backed platforms competing on software and services (parental controls, security, integrations like Alexa), leaving single-box incumbent routers as the low end of the market.
The trend: Consumer mesh Wi-Fi is turning from a hardware purchase into a venture-funded platform business where recurring software subscriptions, not router sales, carry the model.