Eero Takes In More Than $1 Million in Orders as Customers Seek Easier Wi-Fi

Eero’s founders and investors were pretty sure that they were on to something in creating a product to make home Wi-Fi both better performing and easier to set up.

Early signs look promising.

“We’ve sold way more than we thought we were going to sell,” CEO and founder Nicholas Weaver told Re/code. Weaver said that the company sold $650,000 worth of its routers in the first 24 hours and more than $1 million in gear over the first 48 hours.

Eero last week announced its first product, an intelligent Wi-Fi networking system capable of delivering high-speed Internet access throughout a home. The device, roughly the size of an Apple TV, which also packs Bluetooth, is designed to help users easily set up home networks with just a few clicks on their smartphone. Multiple devices can be used together to form a mesh network that extends the range of coverage.

While broadly similar in features to other networking gear on the market, Eero has redesigned both the hardware and the software to focus on the challenge many people have in getting decent Internet speeds throughout their home, especially with the rising popularity of streaming video, home security and other data-intensive services.

One of the key uses for Eero is putting multiple devices together to cover a home where people have struggled to gain full coverage, even using both a router and a range extender. Weaver said that 90 percent of Eero customers are opting for a system of three devices rather than just buying a single unit.

Eero has gotten so many preorders it plans to shut off its promotional pricing as of Sunday. Weaver says the 15-person company wants to focus its energy on making sure that it can deliver all the preorders by this summer.

Eero had been selling a 3-unit system for $299 and a single unit for $125. After Sunday that will climb to $499 for the system and $199 for an individual unit.

Rob Hayes, whose First Round Capital led Eero’s initial investment round, says the response shows that frustration over current Wi-Fi options is widespread.

“We see a lot of product launches,” Hayes said. “It’s rare that we see one that takes on a life of its own like this one has. They’ve clearly hit a vein.”