Samsung Buys Startup SmartThings, Reportedly Pays $200 Million

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Samsung joins the home automation club

SmartThings confirmed today that it has been acquired by Samsung and will operate as an independent company with the South Korean company's Open Innovation Center group. The deal puts Samsung in the home automation space, a popular niche as of late with Google recently acquiring Nest and Apple owning HomeKit. It's a sensible pairing, with SmartThing building technologies that allows users to control home devices through their mobile phones.
The two companies didn't disclose how much the deal is worth, though TechCrunch is reporting that it was for around $200 million. As for terms of the deal, SmartThings said its growing team will remain fully intact and relocate to a new headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The company doesn't foresee a change in the way it does things, other than now it's backed by a major company.
"We believe that there is an enormous opportunity to leverage Samsung’s global scale to help us realize our long-term vision. While we will remain operationally independent, joining forces with Samsung will enable us to support all of the leading smartphone vendors, devices, and applications; expand our base of developers and enhance the tools and programs that they rely on; and help many more people around the world easily control and monitor their homes using SmartThings," SmartThings said in a blog post.
In addition to home automation, this is a play in the Internet of Things (IoT) space and the millions of connected devices around the world.
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