We’ve invested in and supported smart home start-up geo since its inception six years ago. Over that period, the company has gone from strength to strength.
“We’ve developed 25 different products and delivered more than four million energy monitoring systems that can accurately read the energy use of a home in real-time,” said Patrick Caiger-Smith, CEO of geo. “We’re now working on connected, data-driven technology that makes this possible.”
Here are a few reasons why the smart home sector offers ample opportunities for investors and SMEs alike.
1. Cash-strapped consumers are looking for a better way to battle the bills.
The average household bills for heat and energy have been rising since 2003, with all the UK’s biggest energy providers announcing further price hikes this year. “We believe that homes hide numerous opportunities for saving money and energy,” Patrick said. “We also believe that greater oversight about energy use helps homeowners to control the amount they spend on gas and electricity every month. We’re now working on connected, data-driven technology that makes this possible.”
2. It’s backed by the “Big Six”.
The UK’s largest energy providers are already aware of the opportunities within the smart home technology market. In fact, they’re currently part of a nationwide smart meter rollout, which aims to install a smart meter in every home by 2020. So where does geo fit? “Our success has fuelled our reputation for quality in this industry,” Patrick said. “As a result, we have built vital relationships with several energy providers and now work with them to roll-out smart meters to their customers nationwide.”
3. The Internet of Things is enhancing smart home capabilities further.
The Internet of Things may be one of the tech world’s favourite buzzwords right now, but its importance is anything but exaggerated. “Machine-to-machine communication has been lauded for its potential to remove human intervention from laborious, repetitive tasks, such as monitoring, picking and packing, and machine tending,” Patrick explained. “This translates to consumers because it enables their homes and appliances to manage one another, without human intervention.” What’s more, Gartner predicts that more than half of major new business processes and systems will incorporate some element of the Internet of Things by 2020. Now that’s what you call Big Data.
4. The market will keep growing.
According to statista, the smart home sector is expected to achieve a market volume of more than $5bn by 2022. “It also creates new areas of technical development, such as data security and home automation, which could stimulate growth for the UK,” Philip added. “While most of these technologies are still being developed, some are already available in the marketplace, particularly within home heating. This sector forms the backbone of geo and its services.”
Turquoise’s latest white paper, ‘geo: smart solutions for the “hybrid home”’, is now available to download here.