Tile Raises $45M To Help The Modern World Find Its Darn Phone

This morning, Tile announced it has raised $45 million in a Series C led by Francisco Partners, a San Francisco-based technology-focused private equity fund.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

Existing investors GGV Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners also participated in the round, as well as new backers Bryant Stibel and SVB Financial Group.

Tile is perhaps best known for its small dongle, which users can attach to their goods which help them later locate the item. (This is especially cool if you’re one of those people who are always losing your keys). The company also provides an application that allows users to see where their items are.

The company’s product lineup is changing over time. Tile noted in its release that it is working with partners (headphone shops, and chip companies) to embed its tech into their goods. Such partnerships could grant Tile a far larger install base, and thus a larger potential userbase; revenue, a lagging indicator, follows usage in most cases. So, the partnerships are bullish.

Its new investors seem to think so. Andrew Kowal, a partner with Francisco Partners, believes Tile’s ability to provide “an embedded finding solution” made it a particularly attractive investment.

Tile was founded in 2012, according to Crunchbase records, and is based in the Bay Area.

The company has now raised $104 million during its life as a private company. The company raised its Series A in late 2014, led by GGV Capital. Tile’s Series B, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, was put together in two parts. The first $18 million landed in 2016, and the second Series B tranche of $25 million came in 2017.

In 2016, when Tile expanded its Series B, the company announced two key milestones. As TechCrunch reported, the firm reached “$100 million in revenue in 2016, and 10 million total units sold.” Given the age of that datapoint, and the new funding that Tile was able to raise, we can presume the firm has grown since. (You can check out some of its app ranking here, which is always a good thing to do.)

In a press release, Tile said it plans to use the new capital “to grow more aggressively internationally, expand into new product categories, and enhance its Premium service.” So far this year, the company said it saw improved results in Europe. We’ve reached out to find out more details about the raise and we’ll update this post once we get them.

The company was said to be worth around $165 million, after raising its $25 million Series B tranche.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias