10 Promising Home Automation Startups in India
With technological advancements in several developing countries across the globe, home automation solutions are evolving continuously and is used in a variety of applications across residential, commercial and hospitality segments. Home automation systems refer to all such systems, whether used as a single application or as integrated solutions that are used to automate processes (such as turning on the AC, dimming lights, managing entrance gate and cameras, operating smart appliances in a house, and so on).
According to a report published by RedSeer Consulting, Home automation market in India is rapidly growing and is expected to reach INR 8800 crores by 2017. The key growth drivers for this demand are increasing consumer awareness and financial ability, product innovations (like smart phone apps), builders’ requirement for market differentiation and an increase in the preference for energy efficient systems. There are many players in this field such as Oakter, Inoho, IFIHOMES.com, Silvan Innovation Labs, eDomotics, SharpNode, Home Brain, MSK Technology, Thasmai Automation and Metagan among others.
Here is a brief description about all of them:
1. Oakter
Oakter, a tech startup based out of Noida, was founded in 2014 by IITians Varun Gupta, Nithin David and Shishir Gupta. The startup is resolving technology issues faced by Indian homes. The company innovates and manufactures plug & play smart home products. Oakter products smarten existing home appliances such that they can be controlled better and managed remotely using Oakter mobile app.
Using the Oakter Hub, a smart plug, plugged-in sensors, and the mobile app, a person can smarten 40 different types of home appliances that include AC, Water Heater, Water Motor, Mosquito Repellant, fish tank, lamps etc. Oakter elevates life by better home management.
The product pricing starts at INR 2,800, which lets users control one low powered home appliance like coffee machine. Users can start with one or two home appliance and then keep growing their smart-home experience.
Company’s sales and marketing is primarily through online channels, the product is available on e-commerce platforms Flipkart and Amazon though maximum sales are through their own website. Oakter website offers make your own smart-home option which can help customers customize their smart home as per their specific needs.
Mr. Shishir Gupta, CEO of Oakter said, “We believe IoT will bring about similar productivity gains for home environment in the next 10 years, as seen in work environment after the advent of PCs and Internet. Home appliances haven’t improved much in last 30 years, but times they are going to change very soon.”
The company received funding from India-Quotient, Spice Group, Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, Rajul Garg and few other angel investors.
2. Inoho
Bangalore-based Inoho was founded in January 2014 by Deep Singh (IIT Guwahati), and Deepankar Garg (IIT Guwahati, IIM Ahmedabad). It later roped in Gagan Singh into its founding team as well.
Inoho is a product in the smart-homes space. It allows users to control light, fans, geysers, ACs etc. from the smartphone, and this can be done even over the internet, giving the user the access to his home from anywhere in the world. The user can schedule, time or just set moods for his place.
Inoho is bootstrapped so far. The startup monetizes by selling the product and also by adding value added services.
3. IFIHOMES.com
Started in 2013, Bangalore-based IFIHomes.com is a company focusing on the distribution of technology powered Smart Living product to Indian consumers.
Talking about their initial days, IFIHOMES.com’s Founder Rohit Khosla mentioned on the company’s website that “We started with just an idea and a passion to make life simple and secure of people around us. Being a technocrat we are promoting technology to make that happen. Our vision and desire is to educate society about the products and solution that would help them live a better life. As the market is in the early stage and not many reliable and genuine products are available to an end consumer, hence we have also taken up the initiative to promote quality products and services to make living simple and secure. We emphasize the idea of DIY (do it yourself) as part of the education. Most of the products that we are promoting are simple and hence can be installed with little/basic electrical switch install knowledge.”
The company only sell and deliver 100% quality products with warranty. And as of now, It only ship within India. The firm has started building up its inventory with Switches, light bulbs, Solar lights, and Accessories, it also have a wide range of Network Cameras for both indoor and outdoor use. It also plan on adding more products within the near future with a promise to serve you the best you could be served.
Bengaluru-based home-automation solutions firm Silvan Innovation Labs was launched in 2008 and develops video surveillance, analytics and home automation solutions products. Its products have been used by companies such as Sobha, Brigade, Nambiar Builders, Total Environment, Tata Housing, and Lodha, according to Silvan’s website.
The startup, which has raised a total of Rs 13.5 crore since its inception, has recently unveiled four new smart-home consumer products that it has been working on for the past two years. These include CBell, a WiFi video doorbell, which calls the owner’s phone when the doorbell is pressed, and Secure, an app-enabled security system, which secures the home against unwanted intrusions including safety hazards such as gas leakages and fires.
“We also have entertainment oriented products like the zPly, which is a digital music zoning system that streams and plays centrally stored music anywhere within the house, and Lumos, an easy retrofit light automation which can automatically dim and brighten lights in different parts of the house through a few taps on a smartphone; this can also be used through conventional switches,”said Avinash Gautam, CEO of Silvan Innovation Labs.
The company’s USP is that its products are cost effective, with a price range of Rs 12,000-50,000, resulting in traction in tier-2 and tier-3 towns.
5. SharpNode
SharpNode (formerly Electoint) is a startup company founded in June 2014 by Mohit Agnihotri. Currently, it has a product which monitor homes and provides control and security over electric appliances through smartphone or laptop installed SharpNode application.
SharpNode is based on the ground of Internet of things. Working on products involving microprocessors, microcontrollers, sensors, integrated circuits, wireless devices like wlan, Bluetooth, etc, which are fundamental components for connecting things around you to a cloud based internet – In simple, Make Things Magical. The firm aims at building its business by delivering effective solutions based on innovative technologies and solutions.
“We all are smart enough to know that today’s market is overflowing with startups and beginner’s companies. Few global players have been listed. Explore all of them, and realize soon that none of them provide the solution with such an affordable price with no compromise in quality and reliability. Following ‘Make in India’ we have ‘VALUE FOR MONEY’ products. Sooner, our next range of products will evolve from nowhere but the scratch, which we will MAKE IN INDIA,” added Mohit.
6. Home Brain
Gurgaon-based Home Brain is the brainchild of NetWorld Inc, a leading IT enabled automation consulting, designing and integration company with hands-on experience in today’s technology arena. Its products include – Security Brain, Lighting Brain, Entertainment Brain, Climate Brain and Appliance Brain which helps in energy & water saving, enhance equipment life, keep informed about the parameters to help timely troubleshooting, eliminates the need of heavy manpower, ensures safety & security, and make it easy for you to control desired automation.
7. Cubical Labs
New Delhi-based Cubical Labs is a young startup born out of research endeavors of three IIT-Guwahati graduates – Swati Vyas, Dhruv Ratra and Rahul Bhatnagar. Founded in November 2013 by the young trio, the startup offers solutions that revolves around building a wireless, cost effective, safe and smart home solution, all of which can be controlled remotely through a mobile device. Cubical Labs offers solution for – Controlling Electrical Appliances from anywhere in the world, Monitoring the energy usage, Integration with multiple platforms such as IP cameras, curtain closer monitors.
The startup has patented communication protocol, Cube-R which it claims to be more suitable for the Indian market because of less data consumption and it’s ability to integrate with other protocols. They started their major operations in Delhi – NCR and Mumbai a year back and have established a wide network of distributors and dealers in 5 states (14 cities ) in India, and till the of this year. The startup aims to expand to 20 states along with a few south east Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
Bangalore-based Thasmai offers home automation solutions for you by making the products and systems you already have and use every day work together. By integrating everything from lighting controls, music, home theater, climate control, security – even iPads, iPhones and Android smartphones and tablets – a smart house by Thasmai creates personalized experiences that enhance your life and provide added comfort, savings, convenience and peace of mind. It provides Automation solutions for Home segment, Lighting Automation and Safety & security (including CCTV, Fire Alarm, Public addressing, and Access & Attendance systems) solutions for corporate clients.
Founded in 2010 by Karigirish Murthy, Thasmai is one of the emerging players in India’s home automation market. Having its presence in 8 major cities of India, Thasmai partnered with the best in breed companies for all its solutions; ranging from Philips & Crabtree for lighting automation, to Harman International (JBL, Revel, Infiniti, Synthesis) for Home Entertainment Solutions to Honeywell for home security solutions.
9. Metagan Technologies Private Limited
Bengaluru-based Metagan is focusing on providing international standard automation products and solutions, spread across different domains and geographies. It is an early stage startup working on modular IoT solutions for your house by reinventing the hardware & software platforms for IoT by leveraging native patented technologies & open source technologies. The startup was founded in 2015 by Ganesh Prasad Kumble.
Its product – Mera™ Zoom Security Systems is used for safety and security. The product’s features include:
“The aim of Metagan Technologies is to provide simple, secure & standard automation solutions to the world. This requires collaboration and partnership among people and organizations with a shared vision of what could be. Our organization’s commitment is evident in our ever advanced global portfolio and ever-ready focus on customer’s requirements & designing intuitive solutions. We look forward to working alongside our customers and stakeholders to mark a positive, measurable and lasting contribution to our planet and our society,” added Ganesh.
10. eDomotics
Hyderabad-based eDomotics was started in 2012 by Ganesh Vudutha, a mechanical engineer and Keshava Varma, an electronics engineer. eDomotics is a lifestyle company, inspired and driven by ideas that promise – comfort, convenience, security & safety. The company provides a one stop solution for your end-to-end automation needs – consulting, planning, system design, installation and service. Be it lighting, appliances, entertainment systems, air-conditioning, curtains, sprinklers or surveillance cameras at your home, its solutions provides you the convenience to control it from just a click of a button. You can also accesses and control all of these from your mobile smart phone or internet.
“With a motive to provide the most optimal solution to our clients, we ensure that we are up to date with the latest and emerging home automation technologies and have partnered with the best of the breed automation providers in the industry,” the company mentioned on its website.
This article was originally published on IndianWeb2.com.
