Samsung Acquires SmartThings for $200 Million, Entering Smart Home Space

Samsung has acquired SmartThings, the home automation company, for an estimated $200 million, according to Re/Code.

SmartThings, an Internet of Things company that got its start on Kickstarter, produces smart light switches, water sensors, door locks, and a variety of other products that claim to make life easier by connecting users to their home via an iOS/Android app. The company had already raised about $15.5 million, including a $12.5 million round of funding in November of last year.

SmartThings has maintained it will continue to operate independently under the control of CEO and founder Alex Hawkinson. However, most of the company’s operations, currently based out of Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Minnesota, will relocate to Samsung’s Open Innovation center in Palo Alto, California.

“I think at a high level, it has always been our vision to go really big,” Hawkinson told Re/Code. “It’s just scale and reach all around the world – imagine reaching hundreds of millions of consumers and many more developers.”

Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) acquired competitor Nest, maker of smart smoke detectors and thermostats, in January for $3.2 billion.