New privacy-first smart home platform raises $5M seed round led by Fifth Wall to scale bespoke hardware and software that requires no pairing, no subscriptions, and no external data collection

PHOENIX, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The smart home was supposed to belong to the homeowner. Somewhere along the way, the home stopped being private. Today, One Raven launched to rebuild the smart home around a different premise: what happens inside the home should stay inside the home.

Co-Founders Lucas Haldeman and Sarah Roudybush

Backed by a $5M seed round led by Fifth Wall, One Raven is the first privacy-focused smart home platform built from the hardware up—every component, every line of code, designed to keep the home’s intelligence inside the home. At its center is the One Raven Home Server, which allows every device to run locally and keeps homeowner data on the home network. Homeowners can securely access and manage the system remotely, with no subscriptions, no hidden fees, and no behavioral data quietly monetized in the background.

The One Raven system pairs the Home Server with smart devices that work without sending the home’s data to the cloud. Homeowners can configure each home with the devices they want—including thermostats, locks, leak detection and security sensors—and every system arrives pre-paired and factory-configured. The full system already knows itself before the box is opened.

The promise of the smart home was simple: your house, smarter.

What arrived instead was a fragmented maze of apps, recurring subscriptions, cloud dependencies, and privacy policies buried in legal language. Devices lose functionality when the internet goes down, when a company changes its pricing model, or when a feature moves behind a higher subscription tier. Homeowners didn’t agree to rent the intelligence inside their own homes. Too often, that is what they got.

“We spent a decade building the smart home for the Renters and Commercial Owners of multifamily portfolios. One Raven is for every homeowner who wants a modern living experience while maintaining their privacy,” said Lucas Haldeman, co-founder and CEO.

This shift is arriving at a moment when consumers are increasingly concerned about privacy and longevity of connected devices. A November 2024 Federal Trade Commission staff report found that 89% of smart products surveyed failed to disclose how long they would receive software updates. Meanwhile, 81% of Americans say they are concerned about how companies use their data, according to Pew Research Center.

Your home is yours. Your data should be too.

Built for the Next Generation of Homeowners

One Raven was founded by Lucas Haldeman and Sarah Roudybush, the team behind SmartRent’s rise to the largest smart apartment platform in real estate. With One Raven, they are bringing that experience to a new category: a smart home platform designed for people who live in the home, not the companies that collect data from it.

“The first generation of the smart home asked homeowners to send their data to the cloud and pay monthly fees for features they already owned. We don’t think any of that is necessary. One Raven is built to prove there is a better model—one where the home is intelligent, simple, private, and fully owned by the homeowner,” shared Roudybush, co-founder and President.

Haldeman and Roudybush are building One Raven together as the next chapter of a partnership that helped define the first generation of the institutional smart home. They are now building the category for the people who live in the home, not the people who own the building.

Haldeman leads technology and sales. Roudybush leads marketing and operations.

Backed by Fifth Wall

The $5M seed round was led by Fifth Wall, the largest investment firm focused on technology for the built environment, which previously backed Haldeman and Roudybush at SmartRent. Fifth Wall Founder Brendan Wallace joins the board.

“Fifth Wall is backing Lucas and Sarah for a second time because we believe they are building the next generation of the smart home,” stated Brendan Wallace, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Fifth Wall. “The first generation was fragmented, cloud-dependent, and built around recurring fees. One Raven is building the opposite: a local-first, privacy-first platform designed for homeowners, builders, and a future where the home itself becomes intelligence infrastructure.”

The capital will support scaled production of the One Raven Home Server and initial device suite, expansion of the company’s local-intelligence software and growth of the sales and partnership teams.

One Raven is hiring across hardware engineering, software, field deployment, and go-to-market roles in Phoenix. The company will announce its first homebuilder partnerships later in the third quarter.

The smart home’s first generation belonged to the cloud. The next one belongs to the homeowner.

About One Raven

One Raven is a local-first smart home platform designed around homeowner ownership, privacy, and simplicity. Powered by the One Raven Home Server, the system runs locally inside the home, stores data on the homeowner’s own network, and delivers a unified smart home experience without subscriptions or external data collection. Learn more at oneraven.com.

About Fifth Wall

Founded by Brendan Wallace, Fifth Wall is the largest investment firm focused on technology for the built environment. The Firm is driving the growth of nearly 170 companies, backing category-defining PropTech leaders such as Opendoor, Procore, Blend, Hippo, and Bilt Rewards. It’s supported by nearly 115 of the world’s largest real estate owner-operators including CBRE, Hilton, Hines, Marriott, Public Storage, Related, and Starwood. Founded and headquartered in Los Angeles, Fifth Wall’s other offices include New York City, San Francisco, and London. For more information, visit fifthwall.com.

One Raven