Revolv

Revolv was a technology company that developed a smart home hub designed to unify the control of various connected devices. Founded as MobiPlug and a graduate of the 2012 TechStars accelerator program, the Boulder-based startup was led by co-founder Mike Soucie and CEO Tim Enwall. The company aimed to solve the problem of managing multiple smart home gadgets, each with its own app, by providing a single, intuitive interface.

The core product was the Revolv Hub, a hardware device equipped with seven different radios capable of communicating across various wireless protocols like Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Insteon. This multi-protocol capability allowed it to connect with a wide range of smart devices, including thermostats, lights, locks, and speakers, regardless of the manufacturer. Users could control these devices and create automated actions through a single, well-designed iOS application. The business model was based on the direct sale of the hub, which retailed for $299 and included a lifetime subscription for remote access and location-based automation features.

In October 2014, Revolv was acquired by Nest Labs (then owned by Google) for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was primarily an "acqui-hire" to bring Revolv's engineering team onboard to work on Nest's "Works with Nest" developer program. Following the acquisition, sales of the Revolv hub were immediately discontinued. Less than two years later, in May 2016, Nest announced it was shutting down the service entirely, rendering existing Revolv hubs non-functional.

Keywords: smart home hub, IoT, home automation, connected devices, wireless protocols, multi-protocol hub, Revolv Hub, Mike Soucie, Tim Enwall, MobiPlug, Nest acquisition, Z-Wave, Insteon, Works with Nest, unified interface, smart device control