The company recently announced that it has raised US$28 million in Series B funding led by Sir Richard Branson, Shea Ventures and American Family Insurance.

Originally known as DoorBot, Ring rebranded last year and launched its first product under the Ring moniker at the same time. The DoorBot device Gizmag featured back in 2012 worked on much the same principles as the firm's current devices – it connected to a home Wi-Fi network to stream two-way audio and video to the user via their internet-connected smartphone or tablet.

Since then, the devices have become much more refined. The most obvious difference between the old DoorBot device and the Ring devices of today is the design. What was defined by a fairly uninspiring curved aluminium faceplate has been replaced with a much sleeker self-contained device.

The Video Doorbell still connects to a user's home Wi-Fi network, but is now activated by way of built-in motion sensors, rather than when the button is pressed. This means both that users can be notified of visitors (or suspect individuals lurking about) and video recording can be initiated sooner.

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