VCs Have Mostly Shut the Door on Smart Homes
24th May 2024
Over the years, a growing number of well-funded companies have folded or failed to thrive betting on adoption of connected-home technologies such as smart windows, lighting, security systems and kitchens.
And the misses continue. Earlier this month, smart-home upstart Brilliant disclosed that it laid off its entire staff while it seeks a buyer. Founded in 2015, the San Mateo, California-based company had raised $64 million in venture funding to scale an in-wall control system for lighting, doorbells, locks, cameras and other home systems.
A month earlier, View, a maker of smart glass for buildings, announced that it’s going private and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Prior to going public in 2021, View had raised more than $1.8 billion in venture funding.
And around the end of last year, Veev, a heavily funded former unicorn that incorporated home automation systems in its panelized building model, shuttered and sold its assets to homebuilder and long-time investor Lennar.
Losses add up. That’s likely why, in recent months, U.S. venture investors have mostly closed the door on smart-home and smart-building investments.
Who wouldn’t want to have a ‘smart home’? A home in which everything that needed to be done could be done with very little effort on your part, like the Good Old Days when servants did the boring stuff for you? But, as my grandad liked to say, the devil is in the details.
May 24th, 2024 at 15:31
A thermostat the power company can change unilaterally? No, thank you.