The future of the house is nigh, so close that it would be easier to log into your fridge or oven and cook or just switch off all your terrace lights from work or vacation.
Samsung has acquired SmartThings, an open platform for the smart home and the consumer Internet of Things used by developers connecting devices and apps in the cloud.
The 2012-founded company supports more than 1,000 devices and 8,000 apps created by its community of device makers, inventors, and developers.
SmartThings allows users to monitor, control, and automate their homes from wherever they are through a single mobile app. By joining Samsung, independently under the Samsung Open Innovation Center (OIC), the two firms will revolutionize how Samsung fridges, cookers, washing machines, TV’s and phones among others.
The deal remains undisclosed but reports claim the acquisition cost Samsung some $200 million. SmartThings will remain under the leadership of founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson.
Hawkinson says, “As an open, standards-agnostic platform for the Internet of Things, our vision has always been to innovate, build, and make the world smarter, together.With Samsung behind us, we will be able to attract more device makers and developers to unlock the limitless possibilities of the consumer Internet of Things. We are thrilled to become part of the Samsung family and continue our goal in making every home a smart home.”
Samsung develops TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, cameras, home appliances, printers, LTE systems, medical devices, semiconductors, and LED solutions and has annual sales of US$216.7 billion. Its Samsung Open Innovation Center runs Samsung consumer electronics and mobile business units.
Physical Graph Corporation, the company behind SmartThings supports an open and growing ecosystem of over 5,000 inventors and developers. It has raised $15.5M in venture capital to date from Greylock Partners, Highland Capital Partners, First Round Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, Max Levchin, Start Fund by Yuri Milner, A-Grade, David Tisch, CrunchFund, and others.
According to David Eun, Head of the OIC, “SmartThings has created a remarkable universe of partners and developers and now has the most engagement of any smart home platform in the world. Connected devices have long been strategically important to Samsung and, like Alex and his team, we want to improve the convenience and services in people’s lives by giving their devices and appliances a voice so they can interact more easily with them. We are committed to maintaining SmartThings’ open platform, fostering more explosive growth, and becoming its newest strategic partner.”