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§ Private Profile · San Francisco, CA, USA
Designs and manufactures smart locks and accessories for keyless home entry, enabling remote door control and monitoring for homeowners.
San Francisco-based August Home designs and manufactures smart home access products, primarily focusing on retrofit smart locks and doorbell cameras that enable keyless entry. The company generates revenue through direct-to-consumer and retail sales of hardware, such as its flagship Wi-Fi Smart Lock priced at $199.99, which allows users to remotely monitor and control door access via smartphone applications without requiring additional proprietary hubs. Prior to its October 2017 acquisition by global lock manufacturer ASSA ABLOY, the enterprise raised approximately $73 million in venture funding from backers including Bessemer Venture Partners. The hardware is widely utilized by residential homeowners and short-term rental operators on platforms like Airbnb, and the brand is currently transitioning its user base into the unified Yale Home application ecosystem. August Home was originally founded in 2012 by entrepreneurs Jason Johnson and Yves Béhar.
August Home has raised $73.0M across 4 funding rounds.
August Home has raised $73.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
# August Home: Smart Lock Pioneer in the Connected Home
August Home is a smart home technology company that designs and manufactures Wi-Fi-connected door locks, keypads, and related access control products for residential users[1]. The company's core mission is to simplify and secure front door access through digital innovation, allowing homeowners, renters, and property managers to control their doors remotely via smartphone apps and voice assistants[6].
August serves multiple customer segments: individual homeowners and renters seeking convenient keyless entry, vacation rental hosts managing guest access, and families coordinating access for children, elderly parents, and service providers[2]. The company solves the fundamental problem of physical key management—lost keys, forgotten access, and the inability to grant temporary access remotely—by replacing traditional deadbolt mechanics with smart, app-controlled alternatives[5].
Since its acquisition by Swedish lock manufacturer Assa Abloy in December 2017, August has maintained its position as the #1 smart lock brand in the US[2] while expanding its product ecosystem and integrating with major smart home platforms. The company has demonstrated strong growth momentum, having sold over one million smart locks and cameras as of July 2018[1].
August was founded in November 2012 by Yves Béhar and Jason Johnson in San Francisco[1]. Béhar, a renowned industrial designer from FuseProject, brought design expertise that would become central to the company's identity. The company launched its first product in May 2013—a sleek, minimalist smart lock controlled via Bluetooth 4.0 and a smartphone app[1]. This first-generation lock, designed by Béhar, quickly gained traction among US consumers and attracted venture capital from top-tier firms including Maveron and Bessemer[3].
The early product design was deliberately thoughtful: rather than replacing the entire door lock mechanism, August's lock clips onto the existing deadbolt on the inside of a door, preserving the traditional key and appealing to both homeowners and renters[1]. This pragmatic approach to adoption became a key differentiator. By October 2015, August had expanded its product line to include a second-generation smart lock, a smart doorbell, and a keypad for users without smartphones[1].
August operates at the intersection of two powerful trends: the smart home revolution and the shift toward keyless, app-based access control. The company rode the wave of smartphone ubiquity and IoT adoption in the early-to-mid 2010s, when connected home devices transitioned from novelty to mainstream expectation.
The acquisition by Assa Abloy—a global leader in physical security with 70+ years of lock manufacturing expertise—positioned August as a bridge between legacy hardware and digital-first access. This pairing gave August manufacturing scale, distribution channels, and credibility in professional security markets while Assa Abloy gained a consumer-facing smart home brand[3]. August now powers backend services for Yale locks, demonstrating how the acquisition created synergies across Assa Abloy's portfolio[3].
The timing was critical: as remote work, vacation rentals, and gig economy services (Postmates, Handy) proliferated, the need for flexible, temporary access control became acute. August's platform directly addressed this market gap, making it essential infrastructure for the sharing economy.
August has evolved from a design-forward startup into a category-defining brand within a larger security conglomerate. Its future trajectory will likely involve deeper integration with Assa Abloy's professional security offerings, expansion into commercial and multifamily residential markets, and continued refinement of its smart home ecosystem partnerships.
The company's influence on the broader tech landscape is already evident: it normalized the idea that front door access should be digital, convenient, and integrated with voice assistants and mobile apps. As smart home adoption accelerates and property management becomes increasingly distributed, August's core insight—that the front door is the logical entry point for home automation—will only grow more relevant. The question ahead is whether August can maintain its consumer brand leadership while leveraging Assa Abloy's enterprise reach to capture the commercial access control market.
August Home has raised $73.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $25.0M Series C in July 2017.
August Home has raised $73.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
August Home's investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, BITKRAFT Ventures, Golden Ventures, Maveron, Techstars, Alan MacIntosh, Elisabeth Brinton, Michael Yang, Liberty Mutual, LDV Capital, Moderne Ventures, NextView Ventures.