Google says it will invest $450M in smart home security company ADT, which will sell and install Nest smart home products, for a 6.6% stake
the fact that it already has so much of our data allows it to develop more accurate home security systems. Of course, that lets Google see even more of our lives. What is the endpoint of this surveillance feedback loop? https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jathan Sadowski / @jathansadowski : With a $450 million investment from Google in security firm ADT, their devices and AI will be the “cornerstone of ADT's smart home offering.” This isn't just about home security, the implications for insurance / insurtech are massive (via @swodinsky): https://www.engadget.com/... Janko Roettgers / @jank0 : Last week, a Reddit user reported getting an alert from his Google Home smart speaker when his fire alarm went off. Today, Google announced a $450M investment in ADT. I decided to connect the dots: https://www.protocol.com/... Shoshana Wodinsky / @swodinsky : we're all exhausted rn but i really really hope we can take a break from yelling abt tiktok to give this deal the scrutiny it deserves https://www.engadget.com/... @pinboard : I never, ever get tired of stories warning that the always-on internet microphone you paid to have installed in your house may be listening to you. https://www.protocol.com/... Marty Ringlein / @smarty : This is going to be extremely interesting ... I sort of look at this as solving a different kind of “last-mile” (getting in the home IRL) problem for Google https://techcrunch.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2020 deal is the opening move of a partnership arc the corpus keeps validating. Google put $450M into ADT for a 6.6% stake to turn the largest name in professionally installed security into a Nest sales-and-installation channel, and critics immediately flagged the surveillance angle: a security company wired to Google's AI sees more of the home, not less.
The bet paid out along two tracks. By mid-2022 ADT was positioned around its own ADT+ software and hardware stack built on the Nest relationship (profiled ahead of that launch), and by March 2023 the pair shipped ADT Self Setup, a SimpliSafe-style self-installed system tied into nearly all Nest products — evidence the alliance broadened from installation services into competing product lines.
First-order effects
- ADT gains both capital and an exclusive-flavored hardware pipeline: Nest devices become the 'cornerstone' of its smart home offering, sold and installed through ADT's existing technician network.
- Google converts its Nest hardware problem — thin retail distribution and no professional-install footprint — into access to millions of ADT households, deepening the in-home data its critics warn about.
Second-order effects
- Insurers move in on the same thesis: within two years State Farm takes a ~15% ADT stake with up to $1.2B plus innovation funding, confirming Jathan Sadowski's read at announcement time that the real prize is the insurance/insurtech data loop between sensors, claims, and premiums.
- DIY incumbents like SimpliSafe now face a rival that pairs self-setup hardware with Google's AI and a legacy monitoring brand — pushing the category toward hybrid professional-plus-DIY offerings rather than either pole alone.
Third-order effects
- Home security is consolidating around platform-plus-distribution alliances — a tech company supplying intelligence, an installer owning the customer relationship, an insurer monetizing the data — leaving standalone device makers squeezed on both price and features.
- If the pattern holds, the endpoint of the surveillance feedback loop critics described is insurance-priced homes where coverage terms track sensor data, raising regulatory questions about who owns and profits from in-home telemetry.
The trend: Big tech platforms are buying their way into the home through security installers, with insurers arriving next to convert household sensor data into underwriting advantage.