detection home automation photovoltaics founded 1997 as apx alarm security solutions inc. founder todd pedersen keith nelleson headquarters provo utah key people todd pedersen ceo alex dunn president number of employees 7000 website www.vivint.com vivint inc. formerly known as apx alarm security solutions inc. is a private smart home services provider in the united states and canada . 1 2 3 in 2012 the blackstone group acquired vivint for more than 2 billion . 4 5 as of august 2016 vivint had more than one million customers in the u.s. and canada . 6 7 vivint is listed on the forbes list of america s best employers and was also named one of forbes most promising companies in 2013 . 8 contents 1 history 2 products and services 2.1 vivint solar 2.2 vivint innovation center 3 awards 4 philanthropy 5 legal issues 6 references 7 external links history edit in 1999 keith nelleson and todd pedersen co founded apx alarm security solutions in provo utah . 9 10 at the time the company sold and installed security systems . 9 vivint began retaining customers in 2006 after it became a home monitoring provider . 9 the company expanded its service to canada that year after signing a 75 million credit facility agreement with goldman sachs . 11 goldman sachs and apx alarm completed another credit facility agreement worth 440 million in 2009 . 11 that november the company acquired a central alarm monitoring station from criticom monitoring services a subsidiary of protection one in st. paul minnesota . 11 apx alarm opened a new corporate headquarters in provo utah a month later . 12 apx alarm security solutions rebranded as vivint in february 2011 . 9 13 the company completed a 565 million senior debt financing led by goldman sachs that month . 14 vivint also received funding from peterson partners and jupiter partners . 14 the company launched vivint solar a solar energy company in 2011 . 15 the company partnered with alarm.com early that year to deploy severe weather alerts to their customer base . 16 vivint was acquired by the blackstone group in september 2012 . 17 18 19 20 21 22 in 2013 forbes ranked the company 46th in its annual ranking of america s most promising companies . 23 vivint acquired smartrove a wireless mesh networking technology provider and began wireless broadband in august 2013 . 24 in october inc. named the company the second most job creating private company in the united states . 25 in 2013 the company created the vivint fellows program a summer internship program at the vivint innovation center . 26 27 28 29 vivint acquired the cloud storage startup space monkey a company founded by clint gordon carroll and alen peacock in 2014 . 30 vivint ceo todd pedersen appeared on the season finale of the cbs television show undercover boss in february 2015 . 31 the company opened a new monitoring center in eagan minnesota in august 2015 . on october 26 2015 vivint acquired the naming rights to the utah jazz s home arena renaming the building as vivint smart home arena . the contract will last for 10 years . 32 peter thiel and solamere capital co led a 100 million investment in vivint in april 2016 . 33 solamere strategic investors include hewlett packard enterprise ceo meg whitman sun microsystems co founder scott mcnealy and former walmart ceo h. lee scott jr. . 34 products and services edit vivint launched its own cloud based smart home solution in june 2014 . 35 the system provides a centralized control a smartphone application for remote access and learning algorithms that automatically pick up on a user s patterns . 36 in 2014 the touchscreen vivint skycontrol panel received a ce pro best award for new custom electronic products introduced in 2014 . 37 in 2015 vivint introduced the vivint doorbell camera to its smart home solution . 38 the product allows consumers to see hear and speak with visitors on their doorstep from any mobile device . 39 the product received a 2016 electronic house product of the year award . 40 in january 2016 vivint announced partnerships with amazon and nest . 41 vivint also announced vivint element its own smart thermostat and the vivint ping camera the first indoor camera with one touch call out . 42 vivint solar edit in 2011 vivint inc. launched a standalone company vivint solar 4 as a solar electricity provider that designs installs and maintains residential photovoltaic systems . 15 43 the company offers solar panels via a power purchase agreement ppa . 44 vivint solar owns installs and maintains solar panels on customers homes in exchange for customers agreeing to purchase the solar energy their panels produce . customers do not pay for installation but pay for energy that the panel s produce for the life of the contracts . 45 vivint solar is similar to other alternative solar companies like solarcity sunrun and sungevity . its innovation in the field is the use of microinverters for each separate solar panel allowing maximum production when some of the panels are in the shade . 46 47 in october 2014 vivint solar made its initial public offering on the new york stock exchange under the ticker symbol vslr . 48 in july 2015 sunedison announced plans to purchase vivint solar for 2.2 billion . 49 vivint innovation center edit vivint announced a new innovation center february 2013 . 50 51 the vivint innovation center is the research and development arm of vivint inc. it is located in lehi utah in the business park adjacent to thanksgiving point and officially launched in october 2014 . 52 53 it is staffed by approximately 400 hardware software and radio engineers industrial designers and user experience professionals . the center is led by matt eyring chief strategy and innovation officer ; jeremy warren chief technology officer ; j.t. hwang chief information officer and jim nye vice president of product development . 54 55 56 warren joined vivint from 2gig technologies 57 eyring joined vivint from innosight the innovation consulting firm co founded by harvard business school professor clayton christensen and eyring served as a managing partner 58 awards edit forbes list of america s best employers vivint is one of 500 companies in the u.s. to make the inaugural forbes list of america s best employers . vivint is also the top ranked security and home automation company on the list and was named to forbes list of america s most promising companies in 2013 . 8 vivint is the 2015 recipient of the women s choice award for america s best home security system . 59 best contact centers in the world vivint s customer solutions manager matt hansen won the silver award for best use of social media in a contact center from the global contact center . the stevie awards selected vivint as the customer service department of the year from more than 1 500 organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry . vivint won a 2013 inc. hire power award from inc. magazine ranking at 2 on the publication s list of winners . inc. magazine also named vivint the 1 job creating company in consumer products and services and the 1 job creator in utah . 60 pcmag named vivint sky one of the best products of the year in 2015 . 41 consumers digest rated vivint a best buy in 2016 . vivint won two gold stevie awards and two silver stevie awards for customer service in 2016 . 61 vivint smart home was the overall winner of the business intelligence group s inaugural best places to work award contest . 62 philanthropy edit the vivint gives back focuses on helping children with intellectual disabilities through intelligent products and services . vivint employees and owners contribute time money and volunteer hours to perform services for these children . in 2012 vivint gives back foundation was named the corporate volunteer program of the year . 63 in april 2015 vivint employees worked with the feed my starving children organization to donate 47 000 and assemble 217 000 meal kits to feed children in haiti . vivint has donated a total of 800 000 meals enough to feed more than 2 000 children for an entire year . 64 in 2015 vivint became the official safety sponsor for autism speaks the nation s largest autism organization . 65 vivint employees volunteer time and money to renovate homes for families who have children with intellectual capabilities . employees install vivint smart home technology in the homes and sensory rooms with developmental components such as swings rock climbing walls reading nooks and art stations . 66 since its creation in 2008 vivint gives back has donated 9 million and more than 150 000 service hours . 67 in february 2014 the company donated 2 million to the utah valley university to establish a professional sales program 68 as well as a smart lab for marketing research . 69 70 legal issues edit from 2009 through 2012 the company settled with the states of arkansas 71 oregon 72 wisconsin 73 and contra costa county california and agreed to conform its contracts to refrain from certain sales practices . 74 in 2013 the company settled for 55 000 with the kansas attorney general which accused sales agents of using deceptive practices while going door to door offering to install or replace home security systems . the agents also allegedly failed to advise the consumers of their rights under the kansas consumer protection act and did not disclose all costs associated with switching alarm system providers . 75 the ohio attorney general settled with vivint in 2013 following complaints alleging deceptive sales practices and the company s refusal to honor cancellation notices . vivint agreed to comply with ohio consumer laws and paid 50 000 in fines . 76 also in 2013 vivint agreed to an assurance of voluntary compliance in nebraska . the company promised not to make any misrepresentations while engaging in sales . the company also donated 50 000 to two charities in lancaster county nebraska . 77 as of 2014 two federal class action lawsuits were filed against vivint for alleged violations of the tcpa . 78 79 in june 2014 vivint agreed to a proposed settlement in benzion which included a 6 million settlement fund . 80 references edit mark dawson june 29 2013 . city business secures huge us linked deal . retrieved october 19 2014 . vivint rapidly automating canadian homes . security systems news . 1999 02 22 . retrieved 2013 10 09 . apx alarm security solutions inc. increases credit facility to 440 million . business wire . 2009 10 05 . retrieved 2011 06 15 . a b wang ucilia october 19 2011 . home security firm enters solar market with 75m fund . forbes . blackstone buys security firm vivint for over 2 billion . september 19 2012 . retrieved october 19 2014 . press release apx group holdings inc. reports second quarter 2015 results . business wire . retrieved 14 september 2015 . nancy blair june 10 2014 . vivint sky promises easy home automation . retrieved october 19 2014 . a b forbes company profile vivint . forbes . retrieved 2 june 2015 . a b c d antone gonsalves april 20 2011 . to sell home automation vivint needs some aggressiveness . retrieved october 19 2014 . mochari ilan 10 november 2014 . move over silicon valley utah has arrived . inc. retrieved 13 march 2015 . a b c vivint sheds light on its marketing methods . june 9 2011 . retrieved october 19 2014 . apx alarm opens second central monitor station . business wire . 2010 04 26 . retrieved 2011 06 15 . sheila shayon february 25 2011 . goldman sachs stakes vivint rebrand