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

智能锁制造商 Level 遭大裁员，创始人离职

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.

据一位知情人士透露，智能锁公司 Level Home 以将智能技术融入传统外观的门锁而闻名，目前其母公司 Assa Abloy 已裁减了 Level Home 的大部分员工，并将该业务并入 Kwikset。

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.

《The Verge》从一位了解重组情况的人士处获得了独家细节，该人士因属于被裁员工而要求匿名。他们分享了一段会议录音，录音中 Assa Abloy 北美区首席技术官 Peter Boriskin 和北美区人力资源主管 Kimberly Cummins 通知员工，作为“Level 业务更大规模重组的一部分”，他们的职位已被立即撤销。一位前员工在 LinkedIn 上发布的帖子也证实了此次裁员。

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 smart lock company.

据消息人士称，总部位于瑞典的跨国公司 Assa Abloy 于 2024 年收购了 Level Home，目前正将 Level Home 的所有资产转移给 Kwikset，这是 Assa Abloy 旗下的另一家智能锁公司。

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.

他们还证实，Level 首席执行官 John Martin 和首席技术官 Ken Goto（该公司的两位创始人）将与大部分工程团队一起离职，这引发了人们对 Level Home 未来如何运营的质疑。他们补充说，仅保留了少数核心员工来完成即将推出的多户住宅门锁管理产品。他们告诉《The Verge》：“我认为消费者应该知道，Assa Abloy 并没有能力维护好现有的客户群。”并补充说该公司拥有数十万活跃用户。

In a statement to The Verge, Assa Abloy confirmed that Level Home had undergone a “recent restructuring” but said they had not shut the company 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.” The company’s most recent financial report shows declining sales in the North America residential segment.

Assa Abloy 在给《The Verge》的一份声明中证实，Level Home 经历了“近期重组”，但表示并未关闭该公司。美国传播与品牌总监 Rebecca Samuel 在电子邮件中写道：“它将继续作为 ASSA ABLOY 内部的一项业务运营，我们将继续开发和销售 Level Lock 平台及硬件。”此外，她表示这不会影响客户支持或用户。“我们仍然完全致力于提供最高水平的支持，并继续在智能锁领域进行投资。”该公司最新的财务报告显示，其北美住宅业务的销售额有所下降。

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.

如果 Level 的云服务停止运营，用户可能会失去 Level Lock 系列的部分功能，例如应用程序、自动解锁和门锁状态感应。消息人士称，Assa Abloy 可能会更新门锁以消除对 Level 服务器的依赖，但这将涉及“极大的复杂性”，母公司可能并不愿意处理。不过，任何已升级至 Matter 标准或添加到 Apple HomeKit 的 Level 门锁，仍将通过这些平台支持基本的锁定和解锁功能，因为这些连接是在本地运行，而非通过 Level 的云端。当然，这些门锁仍然可以使用物理钥匙。