Tracking app Life360 acquires bluetooth tracker maker Tile

Life360, developer of the tracking app of the same name, has acquired Tile. Tile makes trackers such as keychain trackers that allow users to track a bag or remote, for example. Tile’s services are integrated into Life360.

With the acquisition, Life360 aims to integrate the Tile products within the Life360 app and the Life360 subscription. For example, it should be possible to see Tile products within the Life360 app, in addition to the users associated with Life360. This integration also means that phones running Life360’s app can find Tile products, increasing the Tile product discovery network.

Tile makes bluetooth trackers and started a crowdfunding for this in 2013. Since this year, Samsung and Apple have been offering similar trackers. Life360 doesn’t see these companies as a threat, however, but as a growth opportunity for Tile. For this, the company points to previous Apple products, such as the AirPods, which ensured that a market as a whole could grow, so that competitors could also grow.

Life360 is paying $205 million for Tile and expects the acquisition to close in the first quarter of 2022. Tile will continue to work “with its own identity” and under the current CEO. The Tile employees are also expected to stay with the company. Life360 is an app that allows users to track family members remotely, for example.