Sauron, which is touting a waiting list of tech CEOs and VCs for its home security system that incorporates drones and facial recognition, raised a $18M seed
By incorporating drones, facial recognition and high-tech sensors, Sauron aims to super-charge home security … Bluesky: @stephencsmith , @willoremus.com , @siracusa.mastodon … , @thorinklosowski.com , @nitasha , @newshq , @insurgentprof , @jathansadowski.com , @kleinman , and @evacide Mastodon: @SteveThompson@mastodon.social , @mattwilcox@mstdn.social , and @desafinado@mastodon.social X: @oliviasolon and @nitashatiku . LinkedIn: Timnit Gebru Forums: r/Futurology and r/technology Bluesky: @stephencsmith : I wouldn't trust Sauron with anything. The creator of the one ring to bind us all? Hard pass. [embedded post] Will Oremus / @willoremus.com : there's this thing where tech elites like to think they're being a little cheeky by giving their products dystopian or villainous names but any normie can see there's not really anything ironic about it [embedded post] John Siracusa / @siracusa.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy : ...because if there's one thing Sauron is known for, it's not allowing anyone to sneakily infiltrate his stronghold. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ technology/2024/12/05/tech-ceos-elites- home-security-silicon-valley/ Thorin Klosowski / @thorinklosowski.com : can't wait to put sauron in my home, which seems like a good idea and I have no further questions — www.washingtonpost.com/technology/ 2... [image] @nitasha : Speaking of executive safety: fearful tech elites are signing up for a new home security startup promising a military-grade alarm system using drones, facial recognition, and sensor fusion called ... Sauron www.washingtonpost.com/technology/ 2... @newshq : Fearful of crime, the tech elite transform their homes into military bunkers — #news #worldnews James M. Thomas / @insurgentprof : You have to be so completely high off your own supply to name your start-up, home security tech company Sauron — www.washingtonpost.com/technology/ 2... Jathan Sadowski / @jathansadowski.com : Sure some might say that tech elite are a cartoonishly evil group of cynical paranoiacs who are totally disconnected from a shared reality with everybody else. But on the other hand, let me introduce you to the latest startup in the Peter Thiel family: SAURON. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/ 2... … Bobby Big Wheel / @kleinman : Everything is the fucking Torment Nexus www.washingtonpost.com/technology/ 2... @evacide : If you name your product after the villain, maybe you are not the hero. — www.washingtonpost.com/technology/ 2... Mastodon: Steve Thompson PhD / @SteveThompson@mastodon.social : “Meet Sauron, a new home-security system for the terrified tech elite” — https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... “By incorporating drones, facial recognition, and high-tech sensors the company aims to supercharge home security, part of a cottage industry answering the elite's safety woes with military tactics.” … Matt Wilcox / @mattwilcox@mstdn.social : Why is it so many tech-bros have *read* fantasy or super hero media, and yet have taken *the opposite understanding* from it? — https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Sauron was the bad guy. The loser. The weak one. The one that was rejected by every other free being, because he was selfish and greedy. … Joshua H. Pollack / @desafinado@mastodon.social : First came Palantir. Then Anduril. And now Sauron. Yes, really! Sauron. — I have questions. Which name from LOTR will Silicon Valley appropriate next? And when will the Tolken estate spin up its lawyers? Or does it already receive fees from these companies? — #books #bookstodon … X: Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : Have Silicon Valley's founders read literally any other books? Nitasha Tiku / @nitashatiku : My latest: tech elites fearful of their safety are signing up for a new home security startup promising a military-grade alarm system using drones, facial recognition, and sensor fusion called ... Sauron [image] LinkedIn: Timnit Gebru : What's better than Anthropic, OpenAI and friends, with the mission of having “artificial general intelligence” that is “benevolent” and such saving humanity one military contract at a time? … Forums: r/Futurology : Fearful of crime, the tech elite transform their homes into military bunkers r/technology : Fearful of crime, the tech elite transform their homes into military bunkers
Context & Ripple Effects
Sauron’s funding places a consumer-security product inside a broader coverage arc in which surveillance capabilities have moved through commercial infrastructure, including Amazon’s surveillance-state infrastructure concerns. The notable shift here is the packaging of drones, facial recognition and sensor fusion for private homes rather than an institutional setting.
The reported interest from technology executives and investors also arrives after coverage of venture capital’s growing defense-tech investment and Silicon Valley’s renewed comfort with security technologies. That makes an affluent early-adopter market a potentially important proving ground for this combination of tools.
First-order effects
- The $18M seed round gives Sauron resources to develop, deploy and support its integrated home-security system while it converts its reported waitlist into customers.
- Early buyers would receive a security product that brings aerial monitoring and identity recognition into routine residential protection, increasing the amount and sensitivity of data handled around a home.
Second-order effects
- Home-security rivals may face pressure to add more advanced sensing or automated monitoring, while installers and service providers must contend with a more technically complex product category.
- Use of facial recognition and drones in residential settings can intensify privacy and consent concerns for neighbors, visitors and communities, making local rules and customer trust more consequential to adoption.
Third-order effects
- If this model gains traction, home security could shift from alarms and cameras toward continuously sensing, semi-autonomous systems that merge physical security with data-intensive surveillance.
- The trajectory would further blur consumer and security-tech markets; its durability will depend on whether privacy expectations, local restrictions and liability constrain deployment.
The trend: Consumer security is becoming a new deployment channel for surveillance technologies previously associated more closely with institutional and security-sector use.