Summary:

• Andy Rubin’s new smartphone company has garnered enough attention from Tencent and Amazon for a combined $300 million investment from the two companies.
• The company, Essential, has not launched its first phone yet, but claims it will be released in the following weeks.
• Three executives have walked away from the company in the past few weeks.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Andy Rubin’s new smartphone company Essential has caught the eyes of Amazon (NASDAQ:$AMZN) and Tencent (HKG:$0700), the Chinese social media giant that operates WeChat. Although it is unclear why the two companies are making investments, Amazon’s Alexa Fund and Tencent have jointly invested $300 million into Essential.

For Amazon, this investment may be a continuance of its plans to penetrate the global smartphone market. For those that remember, Amazon pushed its own smartphone, the Fire, back in July of 2014. However, sales were lackluster, and the Fire failed to make any impact on the smartphone market.

Before starting Essential, Andy Rubin was a co-founder of Android before selling it to Google. Although Essential’s phone was announced in May, with shipments promised in June, their first phones have not yet reached the hands of consumers. Essential has not announced an exact release date, but has yet again noted that it will be out “in a few weeks”.

Essential has also faced a slew of setbacks after losing its Vice President of Marketing, Head of User Experience, and Head of Communications shortly before the debut of its new device. Again, although the details of the investment were undisclosed by company executives, an investment from its “Alexa Fund” suggests that Amazon is working to incorporate Alexa into Essential’s first smartphone.

However, executive departures aren’t the only issues Essential should be concerned about. Above any internal drama, pressure also comes from the overall smartphone market, as even established players such as LG, HTC, and Motorola have found it difficult to maintain a sizable market share competing against Apple and Samsung.

Once launched, the flagship smartphone will be sold by Amazon and Bestbuy at a price tag of $699, with Spring as its only carrier in the U.S.

The smartphone startup also lists other investors on its website, with notable companies such as: Redpoint, Playground, Access Technology Ventures, VY Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Apple’s affiliate, Foxconn.

Featured Image: twitter