In May, Android creator Andy Rubin launched smart device company Essential Products Inc. to build devices for “the way people want to live in the 21st century” — the first one, the Essential Phone, introduced last week. Now, Rubin has some money to carry out the larger vision, as Bloomberg reported Thursday that Essential recently closed a massive $300 million funding round.

The investors in the Series B round were not disclosed, and Bloomberg said that Essential declined to comment on the funding. If true, Essential’s valuation has already reached more than $900 million, putting it in range of the coveted $1 billion unicorn status.

So far, Essential has only revealed two upcoming products. The first is Essential Phone, a high-end Android smartphone set to compete against other flagship phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Google Pixel. The other product Rubin announced is Essential Home, a smart bluetooth speaker similar to Amazon Echo or the upcoming Apple HomePod.

Essential has not officially confirmed the amount of funding it has received, but Rubin hinted at the $300 million figure during a Q&A session at Recode’s recent Code Conference 2017. “We’ve raised a substantial hundreds of millions of dollars,” Rubin said before smiling and holding up three fingers. “Hundreds of millions of dollars that I can’t talk about.”

Essential had previously raised $30 million in a Series A round in February 2016, which was led by Playground Global and Redpoint Ventures. Other investors listed on Essential’s website include Access Technology Ventures, Tencent Holdings, VY Capital, Altimeter Capital and Foxconn. Essential had also once entered into talks with SoftBank Group Corp. to be involved in the company’s $100 billion technology fund, but SoftBank pulled out of the deal, reportedly because of Essential’s intent to compete against Apple Inc, which recently joined SoftBank’s fund.

So far, Essential has tried to distinguish itself from competitors by trying to move away from the clutter often found in other Android devices, which often include a number of branded apps that cannot be removed by the user.

Rubin’s company has a tough road ahead if it hopes to go head-to-head with the likes of Samsung, Google and Apple, but Essential’s reported funding shows that investors are optimistic about Rubin’s products. Essential has yet to launch any of its products, but Rubin said that he wants to solve consumer problems before worrying about scaling up or earning a profit.

Photo: Essential Products