Samsung Acquires Connected Home Firm SmartThings for $200m

samsung-blog-post-1Samsung has acquired connected home company SmartThings for a reported $200m (£120m).

SmartThings offers a range of smart lights, locks, alarms and more, connected via a hub, and an iOS and Android app which can be used to control and monitor each device remotely. It was founded in 2012 off the back of a $1.2m Kickstarter campaign, and in November last year raised an additional $12.5m in Series A funding.

The company will continue to operate normally, as an independent company within Samsung’s Open Innovation Center group, but says being part of a larger company will help it scale its operations:

“It has always been our goal to create a totally open smart home platform that brings together third-party developers, device makers, and consumers,” said SmartThings CEO and founder Alex Hawkinson in the companys announcement of the news.

“We believe that there is an enormous opportunity to leverage Samsung’s global scale to help us realize our long-term vision. While we will remain operationally independent, 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; and help many more people around the world easily control and monitor their homes using SmartThings.”

The acquisition has been on the cards for a while, with rumours circulating a month ago even naming the same $200m price that TechCrunch reports sources are now confirming. Now its official, Samsung is joining a gold rush, as major players including Google – with its $3.2bn acquisition of Nest Labs – and Apple – with the forthcoming HomeKit functionality in iOS 8 – try to establish a foothold in the nascent smart home space.