Smart lock maker Level has been gutted and its founders are out - The Verge

Assa Abloy has laid off the majority of staff at Level Home, the smart lock company known for building smart tech into traditional-looking deadbolts, and is folding the business into Kwikset, according to a source familiar with the decision. The Verge obtained exclusive details from a person familiar with the restructuring who requested anonymity as they were part of the layoffs. They shared an audio recording of a meeting in which Peter Boriskin, CTO for Assa Abloy North America, and Kimberly Cummins, head of North American HR, informed the staff that their positions had been eliminated, effective immediately, as “a part of a larger restructuring of the Level business.” A LinkedIn post from a now-former employee corroborates the layoffs. According to the source, Assa Abloy, a Sweden-based multinational company that purchased Level Home in 2024, is transferring all Level Home assets to Kwikset, another Assa Abloy-owned lock company that also makes smart locks.   They also confirmed that Level CEO John Martin and CTO Ken Goto — the company’s two founders — are departing along with most of the engineering team, raising questions about how Level Home will operate going forward. They added that a handful of core employees are being retained solely to complete an upcoming product launch for multi-family lock management. “I think consumers should know that Assa Abloy is not equipped to preserve the customer base,” they told The Verge, adding that the company has hundreds of thousands of active users.  In a statement to The Verge, Assa Abloy confirmed that Level Home had undergone a “recent restructuring” but said it will not be shut down. “It continues to operate as a business within ASSA ABLOY, and we will continue to develop and sell the Level Lock platform and hardware,” Rebecca Samuel, director of communications and branding, America, wrote in an email. Additionally, she said this will not affect customer support or users. “We remain fully committed to providing the highest levels of support and continuing our investments in the smart lock category.” In an email sent after this article first published, Samuel said that Level is not part of Kwikset and that “The brands remain separate.” Assa Abloy’s most recent financial report shows declining sales in the North America residential segment. If Level’s cloud services were ever discontinued, users could lose access to features of its Level Locks line, such as the app, auto-unlock, and door status sensing. It’s possible that Assa Abloy could update the locks to remove their reliance on Level’s servers, the source said, but it would involve “a lot of complexity” that the parent company may not want to deal with. However, any Level lock that has been upgraded to Matter or added to Apple HomeKit would continue to support basic lock-and-unlock functions through those platforms, because those connections operate locally rather than through Level’s cloud. Of course, the locks will also still work with a physical key. Updated June 26th: Added an additional statement from Assa Abloy spokesperson Rebecca Samuel.