Samsung Electronics is to acquire SmartThings, a provider of a platform that connects the internet to everyday items.
No financial terms were disclosed but reports said the deal could amount approximately to $200m.
Backed by Greylock Partners, Highland Capital Partners, First Round Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, A-Grade and CrunchFund, SmartThings provides an open platform for the smart home and the consumer Internet of Things. It supports an open ecosystem of developers, who are producing new types of connected devices and apps in the cloud that modify how objects work.
Samsung’s resources and support will enable SmartThings to expand its platform, which currently supports more than 1,000 devices and 8,000 apps created by its community of device makers, inventors, and developers, and become available to more partners and devices.
The company will continue to operate independently under founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson, and will become part of the Samsung Open Innovation Center (OIC), which is responsible for bringing software and services innovation to Samsung Electronics. SmartThings will move its headquarters from Washington, DC to Palo Alto. It also has offices in San Francisco and Minneapolis.
FinSMEs
15/08/2014