John Lewis annual startup incubator JLAB has announced the winner of its 2015 cohort, a smart camera that enables users to look through their homes front door from anywhere in the world.

Peeple is a smart camera that attaches to existing peepholes in front doors and connects via the home wi-fi network, sending alerts to the owners when anyone arrives at or opens the front door and enabling them to identify and screen visitors.

The team behind Peeple worked alongside other startups as part of the JLAB incubator for the past 12 weeks, developing the product with the assistance of a panel of expert mentors. As the winner of this years accelerator, the company will receive £100,000 in funding and a contract to sell the device in John Lewis shops.

“I first came up with the idea of Peeple when my three-year old son walked out the front door to walk to his grandmas house without my knowledge,” said Chris Chuter, CEO of Peeple. “The initial fright led me to start tinkering on a way to find out automatically when the front door is opened. Weve come a long way since then, and JLAB has been instrumental in helping ready the product for launch in the UK and beyond.”

Among the other finalists at JLAB was smart home control app Alfred, solar-powered iPhone cover maker Ikinen and in-store queue management solution Qudini, all of which worked with a variety of tech and business mentors to develop their products.

“I love JLAB because it connects John Lewis with our Partnerships roots in innovation,” said Paul Coby, IT director at John Lewis. “This years competition has been even better than when we founded it last year.

“The winner, Peeple, is an innovative product in this years really hot area of the Internet of Things. We see great opportunities for developing this product into a must have app and home security device.”