By Alistair Barr And Daisuke Wakabayashi
The creator of Android, the world's largest mobile operating
system, is returning to his roots in hardware.
Andy Rubin, who nurtured Android at Google Inc. from 2005 to
2013, is launching Playground Global LLC to provide support and
advice to tech startups making devices for consumers or
companies.
Mr. Rubin said Playground had raised $48 million from investors
including Google, Hewlett-Packard Co., electronics manufacturer Hon
Hai Precision Industry Co., and other tech companies. Playground
won't invest in startups, but will take equity stakes in return for
its support.
Playground also plans to help entrepreneurs with distribution,
manufacturing, financing and ways to integrate their devices with
remote computing resources known as the cloud.
This approach is common in Silicon Valley and is known as an
incubator or accelerator. Mr. Rubin described Playground as a
"studio," where inventors, tinkerers and entrepreneurs can focus on
building new gadgets and not worry about other aspects of running a
business.
"Our aim is to free the creators to create," he said in an
interview. "By bringing these partners to the table we can remove
many of the roadblocks of bringing a great idea to market."
Others, including PCH International and Dragon Innovation, offer
to connect startups with a similar suite of resources.
Playground, PCH and Dragon highlight renewed interest by Silicon
Valley in hardware startups. Plummeting prices of microchips,
sensors and other components make it easier for a small company to
design devices and have them made quickly and cheaply by others.
The spread of wireless Internet access and the rise of cloud
computing allows these devices to be controlled remotely in more
useful ways.
Other investors in Playground include Redpoint Ventures, a
venture-capital firm with a history of working with Mr. Rubin,
China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Seagate Technology PLC. Mr. Rubin
declined to say how much each company is investing, or whether
Playground has done any deals yet.
Google and H-P declined to comment. Hon Hai, Tencent and Seagate
didn't respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Mr. Rubin, 52 years old, is a longtime gadget tinkerer with a
particular interest in robotics. He worked at Apple Inc. in the
early 1990s and then at Apple-backed General Magic, which tried to
develop a hand-held communication device. After a stint at online
video startup WebTV, he founded Danger in 1999 to make an early
smartphone called the Sidekick. He founded Android in 2004 and sold
it to Google the following year.
Mr. Rubin believes that large technology ecosystems, such as the
Web and mobile, emerge about once every 20 years--and Playground
will help him search for the next one. "Hardware will drive future
ecosystems," he said.
For Google, an investment maintains a relationship with Mr.
Rubin, who left the Internet giant last year after starting a
robotics unit called Replicant. Google also is making a big push to
catch leader Amazon.com Inc. in cloud computing, so access to
Playground startups could yield new customers for this
business.
Mr. Rubin said the investors were chosen in part for their
strategic value to new companies. Hon Hai, commonly known as
Foxconn, will help Playground startups manufacture products in
large volume. The studio will have engineers and product experts on
staff to work with Foxconn and prepare devices for production, Mr.
Rubin said.
Foxconn is looking to expand beyond its mobile-handset
manufacturing focus and reliance on Apple as its main customer.
Investing in Playground will give the company access to new types
of devices, something it has already begun to explore.
H-P, which sells computers and printers in more than 100
countries, will help Playground startups distribute their products
globally, Mr. Rubin said. Google, Tencent and Seagate will help
startups work with the cloud, he said. Redpoint will advise
startups on financing and may invest in companies that emerge from
Playground, he added. Redpoint won't have exclusive rights to
invest in these businesses, and the startups won't be required to
work with the other investors.
After Mr. Rubin left Google last year, he took the idea for
Playground to Jeff Brody, a partner at Redpoint, and the
venture-capital firm became the first investor in the studio. Mr.
Rubin also has joined Redpoint as a venture partner and will spend
at least one day a week at the firm researching and vetting
potential investments in mobile and other technology sectors.
"I will have one foot on the lily pad of mobile and one foot on
the future, and I can jump forward when the next ecosystem
emerges," Mr. Rubin said. "That's a pretty good place to be."
Write to Alistair Barr at alistair.barr@wsj.com and Daisuke
Wakabayashi at daisuke.wakabayashi@wsj.com
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