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A Cape Cod-based company that makes connected home and control hardware and software for businesses and luxury homes now has another $90 million to use in the increasingly competitive Internet of things space.
Savant Systems announced Sept. 3 that it has raised $90 million through a round of funding from investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. (KKR) and Robert Madonna, founder and former CEO of Savant. KKR reportedly will take a 35 percent stake in the company, which is valued at more than $200 million and has more than 200 employees in such sites as Cape Cod in Massachusetts as well as in San Francisco and New York City.
Savant offers a range of hardware and software solutions that, along with its RacePoint Blueprint software platform and Savant Host Controller, enables users to rapidly configure and control systems in their homes, from lighting and televisions to energy controls, security systems and communications devices. Savant’s products are closely tied to Apple’s technology and its OS X operating system.
Savant, which opened in 2005, has developed a broad range of home automation and commercial control apps for iOS-based devices like the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, enabling users to control systems within their home from a single device. In addition, its Host Controller is essentially an Apple Mac mini, according to the company’s Website.
The private company’s solutions run on a home’s or business’ WiFi network.
Savant CEO William Lynch, the former top executive at Barnes & Noble bookstores, told Reuters that the company will use the money to expand its marketing and R&D efforts. Savant also has been looking to expand beyond luxury homes with new lower-priced solutions.
“Home automation is set to explode,” Lynch told the news service. “In five years, people will view this as a utility in their homes.”
Smart devices within the home are a key part of the burgeoning Internet of things (IoT) space, which Cisco Systems officials said will include more than 50 billion connected devices by the end of 2020. IDC analysts expect the market to generate $7.1 trillion in revenues by the end of the decade. A growing number of tech vendors are looking to get into the space, including Google, which paid $3.2 billion in January for Nest Labs, which makes connected thermostats and smoke alarms. Apple in June announced Homekit, a framework for controlling devices in the home.
A growing number of industry groups, including the AllSeen Alliance, Open Interconnect Consortium and the Thread Group, are developing open frameworks to enable the vast number of connected devices to more easily discover and connect with each other.