Surround WiFi maker Luma Home, Inc. has raised $12.5 million Series A in a round led by Accel that included Amazon.com, Inc., former AT&T Chief Executive Officer David Dorman, and existing investors Felicis Ventures, Base Ventures, BIP Capital, Relay Ventures, and Webb Investment Network.

Founded in 2014, Luma is aiming to create the fastest, simplest, most secure, and most reliable home Wi-Fi network “that’s equipped for the technology of today, and tomorrow.”

While that’s pure spin, what the company is building is a Wi-Fi system for the home that utilizes multiple access points in tandem to deliver complete coverage in a similar fashion to that used in large enterprise networks.

As SiliconANGLE’s Mellisa Tolentino described the system back in November 2015: “Similar to the top sound systems that surround your home with speakers, Luma allows you to easily add more access points to surround your home in fast and reliable internet – putting an end to dead zones.”

The system itself is said to be easy to use and install in that users simply plug it in, download an app, and everything should then work; the devices are “autonomous in the sense that they are able to update and auto-tune their signal in real time, so even if you have one or more Lumas in your home, they’re all up to date.”

“Home WiFi has evolved dramatically over the past 10 years. We now have video streaming, cameras, garage doors and even toasters connected to our home networks, but there has been close to zero innovation in the space,” Accel Partner Brian O’Malley said in a statement. “Luma is the first company to essentially reimagine home networking – not just by making home WiFi faster and more reliable, but also bringing a new level of awareness and security previously reserved for only the most sophisticated corporations.”

Parent friendly

The whole idea of the Luma system is a smart one, particularly in delivering an easy to use home solution to overcome Wi-Fi blackspots and to support many devices, but interestingly it’s also more than that: it’s also parently friendly.

Using the Luma app a home owner is able to set permission levels per every device connecting to the network, meaning a parent with children of various ages can filter out content they don’t want their kids seeing, for example G-rated content for a second grader, PG-13 for a 16 year-old or no restrictions for a spouse.

Although not on sale yet, Luma says they now have more than 30,000 pre-orders with that figure doubling if early channel partner orders are included; units will start to ship in June.

Including the new round Luma has raises $15 million to date.

The company said it would use the new funding to meet demand for the system, expand operations and increase research & development.

Image source: SiliconANGLE screenshot from Lumahome.com