SmartThings

SmartThings Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California with a software development center in Minneapolis, MN. The company makes a hub (sometimes called "gateway" or "home controller"), cloud platform, and client applications for smart homes and the consumer Internet of Things.

SmartThings Inc.
Subsidiary
IndustryHome automation
Founded2012 (2012)
Founders
  • Alex Hawkinson
  • Andrew Brooks
  • Jeff Hagins
  • Ben Edwards
  • James Stolp
  • Scott Vlaminck
  • Jesse O'Neill-Oine
Headquarters
Mountain View, California
,
United States
Areas served
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland
ParentSamsung Electronics
Websitewww.smartthings.com

SmartThings was bought by Samsung Electronics in August 2014.[1]

History

The idea for SmartThings was conceived by co-founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson in the winter of 2011 when his family's mountain house in Colorado was extensively damaged after a power outage caused the house's pipes to freeze and burst.[2][3][4][5] When power was restored, water flowed through the unoccupied house causing approximately $80,000 in damages.[6] Hawkinson noted that he could have prevented the damages if he had known what was happening inside the house.[6] After failing to find a suitable solution to the problem, Hawkinson and co-founders began to build a SmartThings working prototype.[6][7]

2012

In September 2012 SmartThings secured $1.2 million through a Kickstarter campaign.[8][2] The company won the Spark of Genius startup competition at the Dublin Web Summit with a prize of €100,000 in October 2012.[9] It then raised a $3 million seed funding round in December 2012.[10][11]

2013

SmartThings began selling its products commercially in August 2013 on its own Web site and in September 2013 on Amazon.com.[12] Consumer internet executive and former Etsy CEO, Maria Thomas, joined the founders in early 2013 as Chief Consumer Officer.[13]

In November 2013 SmartThings raised $12.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Greylock Partners and Highland Capital Partners.[14][7][15]

2014

In August 2014 SmartThings and Direct Energy, a Canadian and American energy provider, announced a partnership meant to increase the number of Canadian and American homes hooked up to smart technology. The smart technology offered basic energy management, home automation, and home security. The Direct Energy/SmartThings plan came with a fixed-term energy plan and a free SmartThings starter kit that included a hub and sensors.[16]

Connected home demonstration

In January 2014 at the International CES show, the company rented a house near downtown Las Vegas to demonstrate how devices can be integrated with SmartThings' services.[17] The demo also served to present SmartThings Labs, which allows users to access early-stage device integrations.[17][18] The connected house featured products from partners like Philips Hue, Belkin Wemo, and Sonos.[19] For one demonstration, a Jawbone UP24 triggered a morning wake-up routine that turned on kitchen lights, began brewing coffee, and tuned a Sonos Play1 to NPR News.[19][20]

$200 million acquisition by Samsung

In August 2014, SmartThings announced that they had reached an agreement to be acquired by Samsung Electronics and would operate as an independent company within Samsung's Open Innovation Center.[21] The acquisition was seen as a move by Samsung to move into the internet of things space.[22]

Products and services

SmartThings' primary products include a free SmartThings app,[23] a SmartThings Hub,[23][24] as well as various sensors and smart devices.[18][23][25]

The SmartThings native mobile application allows users to control, automate, and monitor their home environment via mobile device. The application is configured to fit each user's needs.[23][24][24][26] The app's SmartSetup area, accessible from the app's dashboard, facilitates the process of adding new devices.[27] Customers can use the app to connect multiple devices at once or follow a dedicated path to configure one device at a time.[27]

The hub connects directly to a home's internet router and is compatible with communication protocols such as ZigBee, Z-Wave, and IP-accessible devices.[23][24][25] It serves to connect sensors and devices to one another and to the cloud, allowing them to communicate with the SmartThings native app.[23]

SmartThings is integrated with IFTTT ("if this then that"), which enables users to trigger events when certain things happen on different web applications.[28] For example, an IFTTT applet might state that if I leave my house, then SmartThings will lock my door.[28][29]

gollark: Time to use the backdoor I planted in my esobot PR.
gollark: I'll implement it in esobot for you then, muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha?
gollark: <@319753218592866315> Implement r9k and also downvote9k?
gollark: We COULD actually do this via webhooks and a bot.
gollark: HelloBoi does insults, 2021, colorized.

References
  1. Tilley, Aaron. "Samsung Acquires SmartThings, A Fast-Growing Home Automation Startup". Forbes. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  2. Frizell, Sam. "This Startup is Trying to Create—and Control—the Internet of Your Home". Time. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  3. Segall, Laurie. "SmartThings will let you run your world by smartphone". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  4. Thibodeau, Patrick. "SmartThings founder sees a limitless Internet of Things". Computerworld. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  5. Mangalindan, JP. "A digital maestro for every object in the home". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  6. Lee, Adriana. "SmartThings' Alex Hawkinson: 'We're Debugging How Your House Responds To You'". readwrite. Archived from the original on 19 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  7. Toscana, Samantha. "Take A Tour Of THE Smartest Home In America (VIDEO)". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  8. "SmartThings: Make Your World Smarter". KickStarter. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  9. Butcher, Mike. "Dublin Web Summit Picks SmartThings Out Of 100-Strong Startup Competition". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  10. Lomas, Natasha. "SmartThings Closes $3M Seed Round, Led By First Round Capital, Launches Competition To Grow Community Of Smart Object Developers". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 6 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  11. Gannes, Liz. "SmartThings, a Kickstarter Hit, Raises $3M More From VCs and Angels". AllThingsD. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  12. Goode, Lauren. "SmartThings, the "Internet of Things" Company That Connects the Gadgets in Your Home, Launches Its Own Store". AllThingsD. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  13. Barba, Ronald, From Podcasts to the Internet of Things, SmartThings’ Maria Thomas is Constantly on the Edge of Tech, Tech.co, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved August 2, 2015
  14. Lawler, Ryan. "SmartThings Raises $12.5 Million From Greylock And Highland To Power The Internet Of Things". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  15. Anderson, Jake. "Kickstarter Hit Lands $12.5M From Silicon Valley". Twin Cities Business. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  16. "Direct Energy Partners with SmartThings to Bring Smart Home to Energy Customers". Direct Energy. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  17. Etherington, Darrell. "TC Cribs: SmartThings Gambles On The Connected Home In Vegas". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  18. Lee, Adriana. "Smart Home Shocker: My Cats Are Out To Get Me". ReadWrite. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  19. O'Brien, Terrence. "SmartThings shows off the ridiculous possibilities of its connected home system". Engadget. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  20. Ong, Josh. "This is the ultimate connected home, according to SmartThings". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  21. Don Clark (Aug 14, 2014). "Samsung reaches Deal to Buy Startup SmartThings". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2014-08-17. Retrieved Aug 18, 2014.
  22. "Samsung snaps up SmartThings, embracing Internet of Things". CNET. 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014.
  23. Kovach, Steve. "I Turned My Tiny, Dark, And Overpriced Unit Into A 'Smart Home' For Just $US300". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  24. Nieva, Richard. "Next step for connected devices? Connect the devices". CNET. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  25. Byrne, Ciara. "Automate this! SmartThings lets you control the real world". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  26. Fowler, Geoffrey A. "Smart Home Hubs: A Brain for Your House". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  27. Crist, Ry. "SmartThings surges toward connected-home supremacy". CNET. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  28. Higginbotham, Stacey. "The Gigaom smart home hub review guide". GigaOM. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  29. Crist, Ry. "IFTTT flexes its muscle with new SmartThings channel". CNET. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
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