About Us

The beginning

In 1999, Todd Pedersen saw an opportunity in the security solutions market to sell a high-quality product using a personal approach. Now, with more than 13 years of experience, the company has grown to service more than 675,000 installed systems across the United States and Canada and retains over 3,200 employees.

Ready for growth

Between 1999 and 2005, the company experienced healthy growth marketing third-party security products and services. However, 2006 marked a breakthrough year for the still-growing company. In July it signed a US$75 million credit facility agreement with Goldman Sachs. The agreement enabled APX to research and pursue new market opportunities that would fuel the growth of the company for the foreseeable future. Also in 2006, APX expanded to Canada by sending its traditional base of geographically focused teams of sales representatives and installers to residents of Toronto, Ontario.

With the financing in place for real growth and the customer service record to support that growth, the company's customer base grew by 825% between 2005 and 2010. Then, in 2009, in the midst of a difficult economic climate, Goldman Sachs and APX completed another credit facility agreement worth $440 million and Vivint's customer base grew 34%. On November 1 of the same year, APX acquired a monitoring station from Criticom Monitoring Services, a subsidiary of Protection One, along with 83 employees. Located in St. Paul, Minnesota, this station completed the final step in APX Alarm's transition to a nationwide, full-service residential security company with national sales, installation, service, and monitoring capabilities managed within one organization.

In December of 2009, APX opened its new corporate headquarters in Provo, Utah. A 125,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, this building houses year-round staff and a second monitoring center, which began operating in April 2010.

Innovative technology

APX Alarm further expanded its product set and capabilities in October of 2009 with the release of the Go!Control touchscreen panel. The first self-contained, all-in-one security and home management system complete with color LCD touchscreen, this panel allowed customers to control their security systems and thermostats remotely. With the successful launch of the touchscreen panel and the threat of higher energy prices influencing customers to take steps to reduce the amount of energy they consume at home, APX Alarm expanded from a security-only company to a provider of simple affordable home automation solutions. Within six months, more than 15,000 customers had added these features.

A new name

In late Fall 2010, the company launched a company-wide rebranding effort to better represent the potential and future direction of the company. On February 1, 2011, APX Alarm changed its name to Vivint. Based on the words "vive," which means "to live," and "intelligent," Vivint is dedicated to helping its customers live intelligently.

 

In conjunction with the rebrand, Vivint also introduced a new line of products that even further expanded its home automation capabilities. This line included lighting and small appliance controls, automatic door locks, and video surveillance. In a side-by-side comparison with a major competitor, Vivint's base home automation package provides comparable features and benefits for a fraction of the cost.

In June 2011, Consumers Digest recognized the Vivint Home Automation and Advanced Security packages with "Best Buy" ratings for their exceptional value in today's competitive marketplace.

A culture of giving

Shortly thereafter, Vivint completed the Vivint Gives Back Project—a fourth-month long program where participants voted more than two million times for their non-profit charity of choice. In the end, Vivint and its employees donated over $US1.25 million to more than 84 charities throughout North America. For its efforts in the community, Vivint received a gold Stevie from the American Business Awards for "Best Community Outreach Program."

In September, Vivint installed its one millionth customer, cementing its status as one of the fastest growing home security companies in the industry. Adding to its growing reputation, MaximumPC named Vivint the "new top dog" over security industry veterans ADT Pulse Premier and FrontPoint. Vivint also received the 2011 Dealer of the Year award from SDM Magazine.

Expanded offerings

In a strategic move to enhance its energy offerings, Vivint Solar was announced in October 2011. Now the fastest growing solar company using the power purchase agreement model, Vivint Solar provides simple, affordable solar energy solutions to customers in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

Then in March 2012, Vivint introduced two new products and services to supplement its home automation offering: a secondary touchscreen panel, one of the first of its kind in the industry, and severe weather alerts. These alerts give customers early warnings about tornados in their areas, and have already been proved as a life-saving addition.

The next steps

In June 2012, Vivint reached yet another financial milestone: US$30 million in recurring monthly revenue—an increase of 940% over five years—and one of only three companies in the industry to do so. This milestone coincided with an increase in its credit facility agreement to US$812 million.

The following month, Vivint was named Central Station of the Year from the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA). And in September 2012, Utah Business Magazine named Vivint one of the Top Five Fastest Growing Companies in Utah.

Now with more than 175,000 customers using home automation features, Vivint has become the largest home automation provider in North America.