Google's Nest Buy Dropcam

In a recent acquisition between two big companies, Google’s Nest has reached a deal to buy Dropcam, an Internet camera company. Google agreed to buy Nest in January for $3.2 Billion and the deal closed in February. Now, Google’s Nest Labs said it agreed to buy video monitoring and security startup Dropcam Inc. for $555 million. The deal was signed on Friday.

Nest will now fold the company into its existing line of smart-home product, which currently includes the Protect smoke detector and Learning Thermostat. Dropcam’s product will now under Nest’s privacy policy. This means the data will not be shared with other firm, including Google, without a user’s permission. The deal will be used to expand the Nest brand into home security and video monitoring. Dropcam team plans to move from San Francisco to Nest’s offices in Palo Alto, Calif.

Nest, founded in 2010 hit the market with its thermostat in 2011 and following in 2013 with the Protect Smoke Detector. Nest has used thermostat and smoke detectors as the starting points for its smart home philosophy, which start with hardware and aims to expand into a software platform. Dropcam, founded in 2009 by Greg Duffy and Aamir Virani, offers a limited line of tightly integrated software and hardware. The camera company has only three products: the $149 Dropcam, $199 Dropcam Pro, and $29 Dropcam Tab. All three devices are aimed at helping customers monitor home activity through motion sensors and video recordings.

Google is increasingly expanding into new markets, with efforts ranging from high-speed internet access to advanced research on self-driving cars and robotics. Dropcam next project is home security with a product called Tabs, which are small $29 Bluetooth enabled sensors that are able to detect movements on doors, windows and other objects. The deal signed is still not decided when it will be closed.