Samsung Acquires SmartThings, a Home Automation Firm
Looks like everything we own and use is on its way to becoming ‘smart’. From smartphones to smartTVs, need of technological advancement has become a major part of tech business these day; smart tech ecosystem are slowly and steadily approaching our homes now.
Seems like Samsung is playing it big to become the center of smart home with its acquisition of SmartThings. While the companies did not disclose the price, reports are the South Korean consumer electronics giant paid about $200 million.
The deal is the latest sign that big companies are staking out positions in what industry executives call the Internet of Things. That broad term encompasses just about any product that can be augmented with computing and communications capability, including doorlocks, smoke alarms, wearable devices and new-wave security cameras.
SmartThings will operate as an independent company under CEO Alex Hawkinson, within Samsung’s Open Innovation Center group, says Samsung. The firm will move from Washington DC to OIC’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Joining forces with Samsung will enable us to support all of the leading smartphone vendors, devices, and applications; expand our base of developers and enhance the tools and programs that they rely on
Founded in 2012, SmartThings has created an unusually influential position. It sells a $99 home controller device, but its broader functions include operating an online service and setting specifications to help developers create designs for gadgets that work together and are controlled using smartphone apps.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”David Eun” author_title=”Vice President, Samsung”]
While the company has been acquired by Samsung, being in the Open Innovation Center, the company will be kept at arms length away from Samsung, We want to people to understand how important it is that they will stay independent. SmartThings will continue to work with its developer community and business partners. In the meantime, we’ll be exploring ways to partner with them.
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Like Oculus VR, which recently sold to Facebook for $2 billion, SmartThings started as a Kickstarter project in 2012. It has since raised just over $15 million in funding, with investors being Greylock Partners, Highland Capital and First Round Capital, among others.
