HOMI allows customers to customise their homes with devices that will include light switches, smart locks, and cameras through an app

HOMI team

HOMI SmartHome, a smart home managed services startup headquarters in Singapore, has raised a US$1.3M seed round, led by Singapore-based investors SeedPlus, AngelCentral, and Xoogler Angels.

The company, which also has an office in Hong Kong, will use the funds to scale up the smart home services side of the business with new installers and architects in Asia.

HOMI was created in 2016 by CEO Amar Dhillon, who felt that current smart home companies didn’t really address pain points for smart home customers that revolved around set up and support.

After receiving initial funding, Dhillon and team set out to create a set of devices that could be installed by a certified electrician in an Asian home in three hours or less. This would mean consumers would be able to dim their lights, turn on their air-conditioning before they get home, and have keyless access without lifting a finger on affordable payment plans, making a smart home more possible for any interested homeowners or renters.

Penetration rates for smart homes in Asia have always been low in comparison to North America and the company believes that it is due to the lack of smart home services and an unbuilt ecosystem of smart home devices for the region. HOMI plans to change this by offering customers an entire set of smart home products for the region with consultation, installation, and support for US$2 a day.

“A lot of the devices in North America don’t translate into products in Southeast Asia, that’s why we built a suite of devices for the Asian home,” said Dhillon. “The culture of Do-It-Yourself doesn’t really exist. Therefore, we decided to focus on providing smart home services to help bridge the gap for consumers interested in getting a smart home. We believe that smart home services are key to the entire experience.”

HOMI is planning to launch smart home products through affordable payment plans in the next quarter. This will allow customers to customise their homes with devices that will include light switches, smart locks, cameras, modules to control various appliances, and will all be controlled through a single integrated app.

Xoogler Angels is a business angel network gathering current Google and former Google executives based in Southeast Asia. SeedPlus is an early-stage Singaporean fund with a hands-on approach to working with portfolio companies.

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