Nitin Dua, Co-Founder and COO, Qubo, who has played a pivotal role in steering the brand from an ambitious startup to a market leader with a diverse portfolio of over 50 smart products, shares the brands core vision that sparked Qubo’s journey, its evolution over the years, and the standout innovations—particularly in smart door locks and video doorbells—that are transforming homes and lives across the country.
Qubo has seen rapid growth since its launch in 2019. What was the core vision behind establishing the brand, and how has that evolved over the years?
At the core of Qubo’s inception was a simple yet powerful inspiration, connected technologies with AI on top has the power to fundamentally re-define product categories, a watch is not just a watch anymore but also a health and fitness tracker, one can buy a car without paying the whole amount upfront but only pay per KM. So, Qubo came into existence with a vision to build a homegrown consumer technology brand delivering best-in-class smart products designed specifically for Indian environment. To that effect, we built full stack tech in India from product design, H/W development, device firmware, cloud platform, AI, mobile apps and manufacturing.
In line with our overall vision, our first line of smart products was smart security cameras positioned as AI powered, smarter, wireless and more aesthetic alternative to traditional wired CCTV. We continued our product innovation journey by building the first Wi-Fi video doorbell for the India market. With time, we not only deepened our play in these categories with more variants and generation upgrades but also added associate categories like Smart Door Locks. Today, we have an integrated smart home security suite comprising a range of smart security cameras, video doorbells, and smart door locks. With deep capabilities and video cameras and streaming technologies, we also launched our range of car dash cams along the way, thereby increasing the safety proposition of the brand from homes to drives as well.
Today, it is not just about building devices anymore – it is about solving everyday safety, convenience, and peace of mind challenges through purposeful innovation. Over the years, we’ve expanded our portfolio to over 50 SKUs across smart home and auto accessories, reaching more than 1 million devices sold. Our vision today is sharper and more holistic: to make smart living truly accessible, trusted, and seamless for every Indian household. And with our full-stack tech ownership in India and deep R&D focus, we are proud to say we are not just building for India, but we are building with India. Over the years, we’ve expanded our portfolio to over 50 SKUs across smart home and auto accessories, with more than 1 million devices sold.
Qubo has made a mark with its smart devices, particularly in categories like Smart Door Locks and Video Door Bells. Can you give our readers an overview of these products and highlight the key innovations or unique value propositions that distinguish them in an increasingly competitive market?
Smart security is fast becoming a necessity, not a luxury. Our Smart Door Locks and Video Doorbells are not just standalone products—they’re intelligent ecosystem offerings design to talk to each other to offer a seamless and intuitive entrance management experience for Indian homes. Qubo Video Doorbells enables an instant video call on your phone whenever a visitor rings the bell allowing you to not only see who’s at the door but also talk to the person. It has been thoughtfully designed as a retrofit product that works on Wi Fi, does not require any specific extra cabling and can be installed by a regular electrician. It also doubles up AI-powered smart 24/7 security camera for entrance, supporting recording options such as SD card and cloud back-up.
Smart Door Locks essentially eliminate the need to carry keys thereby making entry-exit more seamless yet secure for family members and visitors alike. Qubo Smart Door Locks offer multi-mode access (biometric, PIN, RFID card, OTP, Qubo app and key) as well as visitor log. Unlike other digital locks, Qubo smart door locks can be fully managed through the Qubo app, thereby allowing owners to manage access control at the tip of their fingertips. Over the years, we have built a variety of smart locks across the price spectrum, all of which are providing the same smart features despite coming in different sizes and finish., empowering users with convenience and control.
What sets these Qubo products apart is that these two products talk to each other giving users and complete smart entrance management solution if they opt for a Qubo video doorbell and smart lock both. And the best part is that the user has no compulsion to buy both together and instead add step by step over time – e.g. a home owner can only the lock first and later add the video doorbell.
How does Qubo balance advanced features like AI, cloud integration, and App control with the need for simplicity and everyday usability?
We believe that technology should enhance lives, not complicate them. While our products are built with advanced features like AI-powered detection, cloud integration, and multi log in app control, we place equal emphasis on simplicity and intuitive design. Every product is designed to be plug-and-play, with guided onboarding, and a user-friendly interface that even first-time smart device users can navigate with ease. Whether it’s enabling one-tap lock/unlock, real-time alerts, or automations across devices – all of it is delivered through a single unified app. We’re also gearing up to launch Qubo Home OS 4, a major upgrade that brings a sleeker interface along with faster performance and an all-round improved user experience. This focus on purposeful innovation, not complexity, is what allows us to bring the power of AI to everyday Indian households without overwhelming them.
Qubo owns its entire tech stack, how does this allow you to innovate faster and create more tailored experiences for Indian consumers?
With growing concerns around data privacy, Indian consumers today prioritise data protection for trust. Owning the entire tech stack is our biggest strategic advantage. It gives us complete control over hardware, firmware, AI, and cloud services, allowing us to innovate at speed and scale while maintaining safety. More importantly, it enables contextual innovation. Whether it’s building AI that works on low bandwidth, or designing devices that withstand India’s heat, dust, and monsoons, we’re able to develop products that reflect real user needs. This autonomy also ensures data sovereignty, with all user data hosted securely within India, and eliminates dependency on third-party platforms. It’s how we stay agile, responsive, and deeply Indian in our approach.
We are proud to share the milestone of securing the Essential Requirements (ER) clearance under the IoT Security Certification Scheme (IoTSCS) by MeitY. This certification, administered by the STQC Directorate, validates our commitment to data security. Our vision today is clearer and more comprehensive than ever – to make smart living truly accessible, trusted, and seamless for every Indian household. This commitment takes a major leap forward with the launch of QHOME OS 4, which powers our Home app to be faster, smoother, and more efficient in every way, delivering an effortlessly connected experience to our users.
Smart Door Locks and Video Door Bells are becoming increasingly essential for home security. How is Qubo enhancing these products with Indian home layouts, internet infrastructure, and user behavior in mind?
Designing for India means acknowledging that no two homes are the same. Our Smart Door Locks and Video Door Bells are built to suit diverse architectural styles, from compact urban apartments to sprawling independent homes.
We have been responding to consumer needs and increasing our range as well as features with time through device software and app upgrades. Over the years, we have built a variety of smart locks across the price spectrum all of which are providing the same smart features despite coming in different sizes and finish. In our video doorbell, we have been regularly upgrading to latest streaming technologies so that the product can work reliably and deliver instant video call even in high density brick and mortar Indian construction which is notorious for dampening Wi-Fi strength. This is the reason why Qubo video doorbell has 80% market share of the online video doorbell market in India while other Indian brands are poorly rated due to real-world performance issues.
Interoperability is a key concern for smart home buyers. How well do Qubo devices integrate within an ecosystem or with third-party platforms?
All our devices – be it smart door locks, video doorbells or smart security cameras – are built to work seamlessly as a smart home ecosystem. This allows users to control and monitor multiple devices together without juggling between different platforms. Qubo products work great alone but even better together. Picture this, someone rings your doorbell, and boom, you’re talking to them on your phone or Qubo Home Tab while seeing their live feed. If needed, you can instantly unlock the door for them from that screen or Qubo Home Tab. That’s Qubo magic for you!
In addition to our own ecosystem, Qubo devices are also compatible with popular third-party voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. This gives users the flexibility to integrate Qubo into their broader smart home setup. As the category matures, we are committed to expanding integrations while maintaining the reliability and data security that comes from owning the end-to-end stack.
Battery life, connectivity, durability – how do Qubo’s hardware choices reflect the real-world conditions in India (power outages, heat, Wi-Fi issues, etc.)?
We’ve built Qubo devices keeping in mind the real-world conditions of Indian homes—not just ideal use cases. Our hardware choices reflect everyday challenges like power outages, fluctuating/poor Wi-Fi, and extreme weather. For instance, many of our outdoor products feature IP66-rated weather resistance to withstand dust, rain, and high heat. We design our products with costlier and superior dual Wi-Fi antennas to provide better Wi-Fi connectivity.
With the launch of QHomeOS 4, we’ve taken this a step further—delivering even stronger and more stable connectivity in our smart cameras, including features like auto to deal with low and fluctuating network reality of India.
As a brand designing for Indian consumers, how do you stay ahead of local challenges and preferences across regions and demographics?
Designing for India means embracing its diversity – from climate and infrastructure to cultural preferences and digital literacy. We take a deeply consumer-centric approach and conduct extensive on-ground research to understand the pain points of consumers and tailor features accordingly. Whether it is ensuring our cameras work reliably on patchy internet, or making our devices intuitive for ease of use. Moreover, when faced with a problem, we also benchmark how similar challenges have been solved globally.
We have also built a robust feedback loop through our app and customer support network, which allows us to adapt quickly based on real-world usage patterns. Be it addressing the needs of nuclear families in metros or first-time smart tech adopters in Tier 2 cities, staying ahead means listening constantly, iterating fast, and designing for everyday Indian realities.
Our investments in full stack tech platforms along with strong R&D capabilities are also enabling us to design globally competitive products for India, in India.
Are there plans to expand into new product categories or explore B2B solutions in the smart tech space?
We will continue to design great products keeping end Indian consumers in mind. A lot of our near-term attention is expected to go in strengthening our foothold in smart home security. Broader smart home applications such as smart appliances, networking, automation & control could be logical expansion areas for future. We are evaluating and researching many potential categories for the future, and we will announce them at the right time as and when we foray into them.
