Sauron, the high-end home security startup aimed at “super premium” customers, removes new CEO from Sonos

When Kevin Hartz’s security system failed to alert him when an intruder rang his doorbell and attempted to break into his San Francisco home late at night, the serial entrepreneur decided existing solutions weren’t enough. Its co-founder Jack Abraham had experienced similar frustrations at his Miami Beach home.

In 2024, they launched Sauron — named for the sinister, omnipresent eye from “Lord of the Rings” — to build what they envisioned as a military-grade home security system for tech elites. The concept resonated in Bay Area circles, where crime had become a constant topic during and after the pandemic, despite San Francisco Police Department statistics showing declining property crime and homicide rates last year.

The startup raised $18 million from executives at Flock Safety and Palantir, defense technology investors including 8VC, Abraham’s startup lab Atomic, and Hartz’s A* investment firm. It came out of stealth exactly a year ago, promising to launch in the first quarter of 2025 with a system combining AI-based intelligence, advanced sensors like LiDAR and thermal imaging, and 24/7 human monitoring by former military and law enforcement personnel.

But a year later, Sauron is still in development mode – a reality that its new CEO, Maxime “Max” Bouvat-Merlin, candidly acknowledged in a recent interview with TechCrunch.

After nearly nine years at Sonos, including a stint as product manager, Bouvat-Merlin took the helm at Sauron last month. He spends his first days on the job finalizing fundamental questions: which sensors to use, how exactly the deterrent system will work and when the company can realistically get the products to customers.

The answer to this last question? Later in 2026 at the earliest – a significant delay compared to the original schedule.

“We are in the development phase,” Bouvat-Merlin said. “You’ll see a phased approach where we’ll bring our solution to market as a springboard. All the different components – our concierge service, our AI software running on servers, our smart cameras – are building blocks coming together in a plan that we just put together very recently.”

Bouvat-Merlin nonetheless sees striking parallels between Sauron and Sonos, both of which target wealthy customers first, rely on word-of-mouth growth and combine complex hardware with sophisticated software. “I had lunch with John MacFarlane, the founder of Sonos, a few weeks ago,” Bouvat-Merlin said. “All the topics he was thinking about when he started Sonos were exactly the same topics we discuss at Sauron.”

Both companies were faced with the same strategic questions: start with super-premium customers or with mass premium? Professional installation or DIY? Build everything in-house or collaborate with an ecosystem? “We might make different decisions, but the questions are very similar,” he said.

The security problem

Bouvat-Merlin says he was attracted to Sauron both by the mission and the opportunity to solve a real customer problem. “Securing people’s homes is important, but I also like the deterrent aspect: changing people’s minds before they make a bad decision and get in trouble,” he said.

His research showed that market leaders in high-end home security have small market shares and negative Net Promoter Scores. “People today are not satisfied with their solutions,” he said. “There are so many false positives that when law enforcement is called, they don’t respond because they assume it’s a false alarm.”

The company targets customers “for whom safety and security are a primary concern” – people like Hartz. The plan is to start with this premium segment, establish a reputation for supporting a demanding clientele, and then expand into what Bouvat-Merlin calls “mass premium.”

The problem (still taking shape)

So what exactly is Sauron building? The answer is still evolving. The offering starts with camera modules containing multiple sensors: “40 cameras and different types of sensors, potentially LiDAR and radar, potentially thermal,” Bouvat-Merlin said. These modules connect to servers running machine learning software for computer vision, all linked to a 24/7 concierge service staffed by former military and law enforcement personnel.

“These people understand the patterns,” he said. “They help us refine our machine learning solution and train our system to detect strange behavior.”

The deterrence system remains somewhat vague. Options being considered include speakers, flashing lights and other methods. But Bouvat-Merlin stressed that deterrence should start before someone enters a property, by detecting when homes are being monitored, noticing cars that circle neighborhoods multiple times and identifying threats at every step.

“The more outspoken we are about deterrence, the more we can convince people that this is the wrong house to burglarize and the wrong decision to make,” he said.

As for the drones mentioned when Sauron first revealed his plans last year, Bouvat-Merlin declined to say more. “These are roadmap discussions. I don’t want to go too far at this point because there are so many things we could do, but we are such a small company,” he said. He added that from a broader perspective, the focus is on growing the ecosystem through partnerships rather than reinventing the wheel.

Chronology and economic model

With fewer than 40 employees, Sauron plans to hire just 10 to 12 more in 2026. The company will also begin working with early adopters later in 2026, with a Series A fundraising planned mid-year.

“Raising a Series A isn’t about raising because we have to, it’s because we want to,” Bouvat-Merlin said. “I want to make sure we show progress and explain how we will use the additional funds to accelerate growth, [including to] launch our first end-to-end product, drive customer adoption and accelerate the roadmap.

The company has already attracted a sizable list of potential customers, he said, thanks to the work of Sauron’s three founders, including a roboticist and an engineer. Vasumathi Raman. “We expect the strategy to initially be based on word of mouth and then evolve differently over time. »

But Bouvat-Merlin is cautious about growth. “I want to make sure we grow sustainably and maintain the premium experience and service over time,” he said. “I want to manage growing pains as much as possible while increasing profitability.”

The question of the surveillance state

Facial recognition and privacy concerns loom large for a surveillance-heavy product. Bouvat-Merlin presented one approach: a trust-based system in which owners grant access to specific people. “I gave you access to my house, so now you are part of the trusted group. When you come, I detect that it is you and you are allowed in. Everyone is an unknown person,” he said, painting a picture of a likely scenario.

License plate detection is also being considered to identify cars circling neighborhoods several times. “How can we assess whether this is a threat? The team of ex-military and ex-law enforcement officials will be very good at helping us scale our machine learning solution,” he said.

Regardless, Bouvat-Merlin is confident in the opportunity ahead thanks to Sauron’s approach. “A lot of companies started as traditional security companies and are trying to add technology to that,” Bouvat-Merlin said. “We look at it from the opposite perspective: We’re a San Francisco tech startup bringing technology to this market.”

Sauron also appears on the scene as concerns grow about crime among the wealthiest. Recent high-profile incidents include an armed robbery in November at the home of tech investors Lachy Groom and Joshua Buckley in San Francisco’s Mission District, where $11 million in cryptocurrency was stolen during a 90-minute ordeal involving torture and threats.

“We see rich people attracting criminals,” Bouvat-Merlin said. “We’ve seen a lot of robberies in San Francisco and other major U.S. cities, sometimes at gunpoint. I don’t think the world is getting safer – there’s probably more disparity between people at the top and bottom of the wealth scale. We’re seeing anxiety among potential customers wanting to secure their homes.”

Yet much remains uncertain about Sauron’s path. The company must finalize everything from sensor configuration to manufacturing sites. (Bouvat-Merlin mentioned the possibility of starting in the United States for proximity and control, then moving to more affordable locations as volume increases.)

It must also determine how to serve customers in different contexts, from perimeter housing developments to dense urban residences, while maintaining premium quality of service.

For now, Bouvat-Merlin says he is focusing on listening to his team, strengthening its credibility and finalizing the strategy he is putting in place. “I don’t demand that people trust me, I want to show them why they should.”

The company plans to share more details about its products later next year.