Proxy, the creator of digital identities for the physical world, acquired Motiv, maker of a smart ring that tracks fitness activity, for an undisclosed amount. Proxy has acquired Motiv’s entire technology portfolio, including patents, and will retain the majority of Motiv’s employees. Motiv’s founders and CEO will stay on in an advisory position.
Motiv had invested over $25 million in developing its smart ring technology, says Denis Mars, co-founder, and CEO of Proxy.
In the past two years, Motiv has shipped almost 80,000 rings, according to the announcement. The ring tracks fitness activities, including active minutes, resting heart rate, activity types, calories burned, activity intensity, steps, distance, and sleep duration.
Motiv ring costs $200, according to the company website.
Thirty-eight wearable technology companies have been acquired, since 2014, according to Mercom digital health M&A database.
In March 2020, Proxy raised $42 million in Series B funding to expand its global footprint, including wearables technologies.
Proxy integrates identity signals to the next generation of the rings, to enable touchless workplace experiences for Proxy customers using either a smartphone or the ring. Longer-term, Proxy sees potential beyond the office for the wearable form factor.
“Wearables have yet to reach their full potential. They have been relegated to fitness and sleep tracking when there are more profound purposes we should be aiming for,” said Denis Mars. “The existing wearable space is analogous to the flip phone days of the smartphone world. With the acquisition of Motiv, Proxy is igniting a paradigm shift in how people use wearables to interface with the physical world, so they can do and experience things they never have before.”
Kleiner Perkins (formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), a venture capital firm that invests in incubation and early-stage companies, invested in both companies Motiv and Proxy. The firm has invested over $1 billion, since 2011, according to Mercom funding data.
