The Meural Canvas is a gesture-controlled WiFi-connected digital frame that displays classic works... [+]
At its analyst meeting earlier today, Netgear CEO Patrick Lo confirmed to me that the San Jose, Calif-based networking company just acquired Meural, the maker of a gesture-controlled WiFi-connected digital frame that displays classic works of art, photography or your own photos.
The New York City-based startup was founded by Jerry Hu and Vladimir Vukicevic in 2014 and raised a total of $9 million in funding. The price of the acquisition, which closed last month, was not disclosed but Netgear was an investor in Meural's $5 million series A round, announced last November, and which was led by Corigin Ventures.
The price of the Meural Canvas starts at $595 while the Meural membership will cost $49.95 per year - $10 more than prior to the acquisition - to access the Meural art library of more than 40,000 digital work.
Atherton Research's Take
The Meural acquisition is part of Netgear's growth strategy that the Netgear executive team laid out today during the analyst briefing and which is based on 3 pillars: the increase of the average selling price of the company's products, the creation of new product categories and the growth of recurring service revenue (subscriptions).
"We branched into Arlo [which Netgear is in the process of totally spinning out] which is about home security and safety. Now we're into Mural and Orbi Voice [a WiFi router integrating Amazon Alexa] which is about home lifestyle," told me Lo. "Orbi Voice gives you streaming of sound while Meural gives you the streaming of art, graphics, and pictures."
Lo also confirmed that Netgear will add a WiFi router inside Meural's digital frames to increase the performance and the reach of home wireless networks.
Some of Meural competitors include Depict, Framed, Memento and Daylighted.
"Daylighted customers are hotels such as Marriott, Hyatt, Accor or Hiltons properties, tech companies, REIT, and airport lounges," said Daylighted co-founder Alex Cammarano. "These places already have screens and are tired of showing the same news channels on silent mode, and partnered with us to offer a cultural and interactive art experience instead."
