Startups We’re Following – Connected Home
Connected homes are driving adoption of the Internet of Things for most people, and it’s startups that are bringing many of the devices to the market. The Jetsons had one of the first connect homes, but in reality, the concept is just now ready for mass adoption. Here are 5 startups creating viable products for today’s home.
Smart Things developed one of the easiest ways to create your own smart home. Control your lights, locks, coffee machine, music and thermostat all from a mobile device. There’s a single dashboard for total home control. Smart Things, which started with a Kickstarter campaign and was acquired by Samsung in 2014 for more than $200M, is first on our list because of its ease as a central home for smart connected home products.
If you’re only interested in security, the August Smart Lock is a sleekly designed smart lock that lets you control who gets into your home. It’s supposed to work with your existing deadbolt. Create a ‘key’ for your plumber that expires after just three hours and never have to waste time waiting for a service provider. One of the most helpful features is the everlock function. It automatically locks the door as you leave your home and unlocks as you approach. August remains independent but is now partnering with Logitech to increase compatibility with other devices.
Lockitron is a small and secure box that sits on top of a doors deadbolt, allowing users the place the key inside. This smart gadget successfully eliminates the risk of losing your house keys while also letting users unlock their front doors from afar and stay up to date with the status of their home security. Originally rejected by Kickstarter, the founders created their own crowd funding platform dubbed Selfstarter and amassed $1,500,000 in pre-orders with the original goal of $150,000 pre-orders.
Nest is the big kahuna of available home automation devices. Nest Thermostat and the Nest Protect are available at most major retailers, including Target, Best Buy and Lowes. I’ve seen it installed in multiple homes and everyone has rave reviews. It learns your temperature preferences and programs itself to turn on and off at the right time. Nest, now owned by Google for a cool $3.2B, claims to cut heating and cooling costs by nearly 20%.
Control your home with a flick of the wrist using Reemo and never need to get off the couch. The bracelet, which offers gesture control for connected homes, is meant to move past control apps on a phone or tablet. Reemo is backed by Microsoft but only available for pre-order.
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