The smart home market continues to heat up, and the legacy giants do not want to get locked out: quite literally. This morning, Assa Abloy, the $23 billion Swedish lock giant that owns Yale and many other brands — announced[1] that it is buying US-based smart lock maker August Home[2] to double down on new technology.
Terms of the deal are not being disclosed but we have asked both August and Assa Abloy and will update this post as we learn more. Pending regulatory approvals, Assa Abloy says the acquisition will close in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Curiously, so far the only official note of the deal has come from Assa Abloy itself, not August, and it’s not clear whether co-founder and CEO Jason Johnson is joining as part of the deal. (The other co-founder is Yves Behar, the well-known product designer, and it’s not clear what role he will have, if any, either.)
“I am very pleased to welcome August into the ASSA ABLOY Group. August constitutes a strategic addition to the Group and reinforces our position in the residential smart door market,” Johan Molin, President and CEO of Assa Abloy, said in a statement.
“August Home strengthens our residential smart door strategy with complementary smart locks, expansion into video doorbells and comprehensive solutions for home delivery,” Thanasis Molokotos, its EVP and head of Americas added.
In an exchange with August earlier this morning, the company announced that it will continue to operate under its existing brand, albeit as part of Assa Abloy’s U.S. division. The news comes at a tumultuous time for Assa Abloy — it announced earlier this month[3] that CEO Johan Molin is considering exiting the company next year,...