Defying visible slowdowns in the smartwatch ecosystem, Fitbit has today acquired yet another wearables manufacturer, ‘Vector Watch’. It has picked up the team and software assets from the European smartwatch maker. Financial details of the transaction haven’t been disclosed by either party.
Talking about the acquisition, the official statement reads:
We believe this is an important milestone as a moment when we will start building other new and amazing products, features and experiences, incorporating our unique technology and knowhow with Fitbit’s experience and global community.
Headquartered in London, Vector Watch was founded by duo Andrei Pitis and Dan Tudose in 2013 with the primary aim of making their smartwatch products affordable and long-lasting. Till date, Vector Watch has managed to raise more than $12 million in funding through three rounds. These saw participation from backers including 3TS Capital Partners, Gecad Ventures, and a cohort of angel investors.
After working on the development of their smartwatches for a good two years, Vector Watch entered the market with twelve smartwatch models at the same time. They all sported an e-ink LCD display, 30-day battery life, and a smartphone control app to manage watch faces and streams. The highlight feature of the smartwatch was its in-house software that was compatible with all major mobile platforms.
The company isn’t shutting the door in the face of its existing customers at the moment but how would it even be able to continue without its design team and software platform. But it has been mentioned that Vector Watches will continue to operate without any hiccups. These product’s user experience, features, and functionalities will continue to operate across iOS, Android, and Windows.
The customer base will be able to easily avail technical support for all smartwatches sold worldwide over the past year. On the other hand, developers can also continue to create and upload new watch faces for their Luna and Meridian watches. The company, however, doesn’t plan to provide any more software and functionality updates anymore.
As for Fitbit, the company has now confirmed its foray into the smartwatch ecosystem by snapping up two prominent startups. Previously, the fitness band maker had acquired the widely popular watch maker Pebble or a purchase price of less than $40 million. It revolved about Pebble’s intellectual property including its operating system, watch apps, and cloud services.
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