Vivint
Vivint Smart Home, Inc. is a public smart home company in the United States and Canada. It was founded by Keith Nellesen and Todd Pedersen in 1999. Vivint delivers an integrated smart home system with in-home consultation, professional installation and support delivered by its Smart Home Pros, as well as 24/7 customer care and monitoring. In 2012, The Blackstone Group acquired Vivint for more than $2 billion. In January 2020, the company completed a merger with Mosaic Acquisition Corp. to become a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. Vivint has over 1.5 million customers  in the U.S. and Canada. It was listed among "Fast Company"s World's 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2017. History. Founding. In 1999, Keith Nellesen and Todd Pedersen co-founded APX Alarm Security Solutions in Provo, Utah. At the time, the company sold and installed security systems. Vivint began retaining customers in 2006 after it became a home monitoring provider. The company expanded its service to Canada that year after signing a $75 million credit facility agreement with Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs and APX Alarm completed another credit facility agreement worth $440 million in 2009. That November, the  company acquired a central alarm monitoring station from Criticom Monitoring Services, a subsidiary of Protection One, in St. Paul, Minnesota. APX Alarm opened a new corporate headquarters in Provo, Utah a month later. Rebranding as Vivint. APX Alarm Security Solutions rebranded as Vivint in February 2011. The company completed a $565 million senior debt financing led by Goldman Sachs that month. Vivint also received funding from Peterson Partners and Jupiter Partners. The company launched Vivint Solar, a solar energy company, in 2011. Vivint was acquired by The Blackstone Group in September 2012. In 2013, "Forbes" ranked the company 46th  in its annual ranking of "America's Most Promising Companies." Vivint acquired Smartrove, a wireless & mesh networking company and began wireless broadband in August 2013. In October, "Inc." named the company the second most job creating private company in the United States. In 2013, the company created the Vivint Fellows Program, a summer internship program at the Vivint Innovation Center. Recent. Vivint's former CEO Todd Pedersen appeared on the season finale of the CBS television show "Undercover Boss" in February 2015. The company opened a new monitoring center in Eagan, Minnesota in August 2015. Peter Thiel and Solamere Capital  co-led a $100 million investment in Vivint in April 2016. Solamere strategic investors include Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy and former Walmart CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr. Vivint was named the TMA Monitoring Center of the Year in 2017 and received the J.D. Power award for “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Security Systems.” In 2019, U.S. News & World Report named Vivint the Top Home Security System of 2019. In 2020, Forbes named Vivint to its list of “America’s Best Employers for Diversity” for a second consecutive year. Products and  services. Vivint launched its own cloud-based smart home automation solution in June 2014. The system provides a centralized control, a smartphone application for remote access and learning algorithms that automatically pick up on a user's patterns. In 2014, the touchscreen Vivint SkyControl panel received a CE Pro BEST Award for "new custom electronic products introduced in 2014." In 2015, Vivint introduced the Vivint Doorbell Camera to its smart home solution. The product allows consumers to see, hear and speak with visitors on their doorstep from any mobile device with internet connection. The product received a 2016 Electronic House  Product of the Year award. In January 2016, Vivint announced partnerships with Amazon and Nest. Vivint also announced Vivint Element, its own smart thermostat, and the Vivint Ping Camera, the first indoor camera with one-touch call out. In 2017, Vivint announced a partnership with Airbnb. It also integrated its smart home suite with Google Home and Philips Hue smart lighting. In 2017, Vivint also released Sky, a cloud-based home-monitoring device that uses artificial intelligence to detect home occupants, whether occupants are awake or asleep, home temperature, entrance security, and lighting. In 2018, Vivint collaborated with Google to  include two Google Home Mini devices in every starter kit. The company also integrated the Nest Thermostat E and Google Wifi to its smart-home suite. In 2019, the company launched Vivint Car Guard to monitor car and home security from a single app. The company also launched the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro to help deter lurkers. Vivint launched the Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro in 2020, an AI-powered camera designed to intelligently detect packages and proactively deter package thieves. Vivint Solar. In 2011, Vivint Inc. launched a standalone company, Vivint Solar, as a solar electricity provider that designs, installs , and maintains residential photovoltaic systems. The company offers solar panels via a power purchase agreement (PPA). Vivint Solar owns, installs, and maintains solar panels on customers’ homes in exchange for customers agreeing to purchase the solar energy their panels produce. Vivint Solar is similar to other alternative solar companies like SolarCity, SunRun, and Sungevity. Its innovation in the field is the use of microinverters for each separate solar panel, allowing maximum production when some of the panels are in the shade. In October 2014, Vivint Solar made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker  symbol VSLR. Vivint Arena. On October 26, 2015, Vivint acquired the naming rights to the Utah Jazz's home arena, renaming the building as Vivint Arena. The contract will last for 10 years. In April 2018 Vivint and the Utah Jazz added a new sensory room at the arena for children with autism spectrum disorder. Philanthropy. Through its charitable foundation, Vivint Gives Back, Vivint focuses on helping children with intellectual and developmental disabilities through intelligent products, services, and innovation. Vivint employees contribute time and money to perform services for these children. In 2017, Vivint Gives Back was named a “Corporate  Social Responsibility Program of the Year” and in 2019, Engage for Good honored the organization with a Silver Halo award. In January 2019, Vivint employees worked with the Feed My Starving Children organization to assemble 272,000 meal kits to feed children with special needs living in orphanages in third-world countries. Vivint has donated a total of two million meals in its ten-year history with the Feed My Starving Children organization. In 2015, Vivint became the official safety sponsor for Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism organization. Vivint employees volunteer time and money to renovate homes for families  who have children with intellectual disabilities. Employees install Vivint smart home technology in homes and sensory rooms with developmental components such as swings, rock-climbing walls, reading nooks and art stations. Since its creation in 2008, Vivint Gives Back has donated $21 million and more than 250,000 service hours. In February 2014, the company donated $2 million to the Utah Valley University to establish a professional sales program, as well as a SMART Lab for marketing research. Legal issues. Vivint has settled multiple cases due to deceptive marketing practices. From 2009 through 2014 the company settled with the  states of Arkansas, Oregon, Ohio, and Nebraska. In 2014, Vivint settled two federal class-action lawsuits for alleged violations of the TCPA. Many people stand by the belief that Vivint scams their customers with their three day refund policy (the legal limit for a security system). In 2018 Vivint agreed to a $10 million settlement in a lawsuit on the issue with ADT Inc. on claims that Vivint agents would gain access to homes and install new Vivint equipment under the guise of an upgrade, then sign ADT’s customers to new contracts with Vivint. According to ADT they  received nearly 1,000 complaints by its customers over the practice. In 2021 Vivint was fined $20 million for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act under Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. According to regulators Vivint failed to implement an identity theft prevention program which then allowed its sales representatives to obtain credit reports of unsuspecting consumers without the consumers’ knowledge or consent, and lead them to unfairly sell false debt to buyers or debt collectors, which was violation of the FTC's Red Flags Rule.