Amazon and Accel toss $12.5M at Luma’s mesh routers after 30K preorders

Wi-Fi router maker Luma has sold 30,000 devices since it began accepting preorders in November. The news coincides with funding the company secured — an additional $12.5 million from investors such as Accel Partners and Amazon. The added investment will be used to fulfill the “massive demand” for Luma’s routers, as well as to expand the company’s operations overseas and continue funding its research efforts.

Started by Paul Judge and Mike Van Bruinisse, Luma makes a small Wi-Fi router that uses mesh networking to bring you stronger and higher-quality Internet at your home or office. Its technology understands where most of the bandwidth is being used and re-prioritizes to make sure you won’t have to search for the best connection spot.

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The product debuted in November with a price tag of $99 for one and $249 for three. Five months later, Luma says there’s demand for at least 30,000 devices. The company said that units are shipping as scheduled, with the first orders going out in June.

As customers continue to order the routers, Luma is working on continue to accelerate its growth, especially as it seeks to ship its product and make it more available to the public. That’s largely why it has taken on additional funding, including a “significant” investment from Amazon’s Alexa Fund.

Steve Rabuchin, Amazon Alexa’s vice president, said in a statement: “We’re investing in Luma through the Alexa Fund because we’re excited about Luma’s vision to not only bring better and faster Wi-Fi to consumers, but to innovate on what’s possible with IoT and voice.” Launched in June, the Alexa Fund is a $100 million vehicle that invests in developers, manufacturers, and startups who are “passionate about creating new experiences designed around the human voice.”

Other investors in the round include Felicis Ventures, Base Ventures, BIP Capital, Relay Ventures, Webb Investment Network, former AT&T CEO David Dorman, and 500 Startups.

The added funding will certainly help keep Luma on consumers’ minds, especially important as other similar devices have entered the marketplace — including Eero, which sold $1 million worth of devices in just two days.

Luma today also added two more people to its executive team, bringing on Matt Duffy as its vice president of supply chain and Anil Jagarlamudi as the new vice president of engineering. Duffy previously served in procurement roles at Apple and Sonos, while Jagarlamudi was most recently vice president of engineering at AirWatch by VMWare.

To date, Luma has raised nearly $16 million in funding.

Updated on 7:35 a.m. Pacific on Thursday: This article has been updated to clarify Luma’s use of funding in keeping up with demand. The company said that it’ll be used to accelerate growth, and it has fulfilled all preorders.

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