- Home service plan company Frontdoor announced recently that it is buying Streem for a combination of cash and equity. These are the details about the deal.
Home service plan company Frontdoor recently announced that it is buying Streem for a combination of cash and equity, including incentive-based equity. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Portland-based Streem is known for using enhanced augmented reality, computer vision, and machine learning to help home services professionals more quickly and accurately diagnose breakdowns and complete repairs. Plus Streem’s cutting-platform also enables remote troubleshooting and customer assistance across a broad range of industries.
“I am extremely excited about Frontdoor’s acquisition of Streem. Not only will it accelerate our work to transform the service experience for homeowners and reduce costs, it will create unique opportunities for new revenue streams across a variety of new channels,” said Rex Tibbens, president and CEO of Frontdoor. “This technology is a perfect fit for our core home service plan business and for our future On Demand customers. Over time, we will use Streem’s in-home augmented reality across our platform to deliver a superior experience to our more than 2 million customers and our network of over 16,000 contractor firms.”
Streem’s mobile platform has user-friendly technology to help expedite the repair process for homeowners. This is essential as unexpected breakdowns can wreak havoc on schedules and create unnecessary frustration and stress.
How does Streem work? Homeowners use their smartphone camera to connect with a service professional who can remotely see the item that needs attention. And the service professional can then remotely guide the homeowner leveraging Streem’s simple augmented reality tools and use the customer’s mobile camera to capture a variety of important details more efficiently than verbal, text or email exchanges.
The details such as brand, model and serial number, and measurements, can help reduce the time required for completing repairs. And it can also eliminate the need for a technician to visit the home in the event the service provider is able to offer a simple DIY solution.
“Combining Streem’s AR-enhanced platform with Frontdoor’s marketplace, will accelerate the transformation of the service experience for consumers and businesses alike,” added Streem co-founder and CEO Ryan Fink. “We’ve long said our platform is defined by three key pillars: remote video collaboration, simple augmented reality tools, and, most importantly, contextual data. This allows service experts to capture information as well as – if not better than – if they were on site. Our shared visions for simplifying life and delivering innovative technology to help solve problems are extremely aligned.”
Going forward, Streem’s leadership team and employees will continue to focus on developing AI-enhanced technology solutions post-acquisition as well as expanding its existing retail, consumer telecommunications, and technology channels. And the goal of the combined companies is to take the hassle out of homeownership.
Frontdoor is known as the parent company for four home service plan brands, including American Home Shield, HSA, Landmark, and OneGuard. And together, it serves over 2 million customers across the U.S. through a network of more than 16,000 pre-qualified contractor firms that employ over 45,000 technicians.
