Beijing time on August 15 morning news, Samsung has acquired smart home controller startup SmartThings. Samsung did not disclose the price of the deal, but the US technology blog Re/code quoted sources as saying that Samsung paid about $200 million.
Samsung said SmartThings will continue to be headed by current CEO and founder Alex Hawkinson and will operate independently. However, most of the company's business operations, including 55 employees in Washington, DC, and offices in San Francisco and Minnesota, will be relocated to Palo Alto, Calif., to join Samsung's local Open Innovation Center.
The head of Samsung's division is Google and AOL's former executive David Eun, focusing on software and service innovation. For example, the department recently helped launch an app called Terrain that provides users with a list of cards that provide easy access to information, content, social network traffic, frequently accessed information, and device settings.
In an interview, Hawkingson said that Samsung’s acquisition will help the company accelerate its development. “I think that at a higher level, our goal is to grow and develop.†He said, “This is a matter of scale and how to cover the world, including hundreds of millions of users and more developers.†He pointed out that Samsung operates globally, spans a wide range of consumer appliances, and has many retail channels.
Samsung's acquisition of SmartThings transaction amounted to 200 million US dollars
Similar to the Oculus VR recently acquired by Facebook, SmartThings started with a Kickstarter project in 2012. The company subsequently raised more than $15 million, including Greylock Partners, Highland Capital and First Round Capital.
Recently, a series of heavyweight acquisitions took place in the home automation market, the most notable of which was Google’s acquisition of Nest for $2.2 billion earlier this year. SmartThings focuses on connecting door locks, lights and other home devices to mobile applications.
SmartThings sells kits for less than $200, including basic routers and small sensors. These sensors can be connected to home devices and connected to a WiFi network. Users can then control these devices through SmartThings' iPhone app. However, SmartThings doesn't stop there, it's a platform, and Hawkingson thinks this platform should be as open as possible.
Hawkingson said that through the open platform, others can develop new applications to develop the ecosystem of SmartThings. This will be a key differentiating element. Eun said that Samsung is also attracted by such openness. He said: "Samsung focuses on smart homes and connected devices, and has already portrayed such a goal. But because consumers have many different devices, the industry will move toward openness."
Hawking said that SmartThings' revenue is growing and currently supports more than 1,000 devices, and 5,000 developers have developed 8,000 applications for the platform.
401-999Kva Diesel Generator,Shanghai Genset,Shanghai Power Generator,Power Generator Set
Shanghai Kosta Electric Co., Ltd. , https://www.ksdgenerator.com