LG Buys Athom in $61 Million Deal to Rule the 1 Growing Smart Home Market ($260 Billion by 2028!)

CONTENTS: LG Buys Athom in $61 Million Deal to Rule the 1 Growing Smart Home Market

LG Electronics has acquired an 80% stake in Athom, a smart home platform company based in Enschede, Netherlands. LG plans to acquire the remaining 20% within the next three years.

This acquisition aims to bolster LG’s position in open smart home ecosystems by integrating Athom’s extensive connectivity—which links thousands of appliances, sensors, and lighting devices—with LG’s generative AI-enabled ThinQ platform. By combining Athom’s capabilities with LG’s Affectionate Intelligence technology, LG aspires to lead the AI-driven home innovation era, offering personalized space solutions through enhanced customer understanding.

 

LG envisions extending the unique customer experience of AI homes to various environments, such as commercial spaces and mobility settings, ultimately advancing the concept of ‘Intelligent Space.’

Athom, founded in 2014, is known for its smart home hub, ‘Homey,’ which connects home appliances and IoT devices, and provides cloud subscription services. Over the past decade, Homey has primarily expanded in Europe, gaining a dedicated customer base of hundreds of thousands. As of 2023, Homey devices are also available in Australia, Singapore, the US, and Canada.

Athom has created an independent smart home ecosystem with its own hub and OS. Its flagship product, Homey Pro, can connect to over 50,000 devices and supports various connection methods, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter, and Thread, making it highly versatile and open.

The Homey App Store, managed by Athom, offers around 1,000 applications for connecting and controlling home devices from brands like Philips Hue and IKEA. These apps include many based on official partnerships and a large number developed by the Homey community.

 

LG Buys Athom in $61 Million Deal to Rule the 1 Growing Smart Home Market: LG Electronics has acquired an 80% stake in Athom, a smart home platform company based in Enschede, Netherlands, with plans to acquire the remaining 20% within the next three years. This acquisition aims to strengthen LG’s presence in open smart home ecosystems by integrating Athom’s extensive connectivity—which links thousands of appliances, sensors, and lighting devices—with LG’s generative AI-enabled ThinQ platform.

By combining Athom’s capabilities with LG’s Affectionate Intelligence technology, LG aspires to lead the AI-driven home innovation era, offering personalized space solutions through enhanced customer understanding.

LG envisions extending the unique customer experience of AI homes to various environments, such as commercial spaces and mobility settings, ultimately advancing the concept of ‘Intelligent Space.’

Athom, founded in 2014, is known for its smart home hub, ‘Homey,’ which connects home appliances and IoT devices, and provides cloud subscription services. Over the past decade, Homey has primarily expanded in Europe, gaining a dedicated customer base of hundreds of thousands. As of 2023, Homey devices are also available in Australia, Singapore, the US, and Canada.

Athom has created an independent smart home ecosystem with its own hub and OS. Its flagship product, Homey Pro, can connect to over 50,000 devices and supports various connection methods, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Matter, and Thread, making it highly versatile and open.

LG Buys Athom in $61 Million Deal to Rule the 1 Growing Smart Home Market: The Homey App Store, managed by Athom, offers around 1,000 applications for connecting and controlling home devices from brands like Philips Hue and IKEA.

These apps include many based on official partnerships and a large number developed by the Homey community. This community of developers actively contributes to Athom’s open platform, continuously expanding the range of brands and devices that can be connected to the hub. Users can easily create a smart home environment by downloading apps from the store and linking their devices.

LG is poised to significantly enhance the scalability required for implementing AI homes, aiming to achieve the highest industry standards. This will be accomplished by integrating its LG ThinQ platform’s smart home technology with Athom’s open ecosystem and IoT device connectivity.

The acquisition of Athom is particularly noteworthy, as it will enable LG to incorporate third-party devices and services into its ecosystem. This integration will provide LG with deeper insights into customer usage patterns and expedite the delivery of personalized services.

“The acquisition of Athom is a cornerstone for our AI home business,” says Jung Ki-hyun, executive vice president and head of LG’s Platform Business Center. “By leveraging the synergy between the two companies, we will expand our open ecosystem and external integration services, aiming to provide customers with more diverse and multidimensional space experiences.”

 

Following LG Electronics’ acquisition of Athom, Athom will continue operating independently, maintaining its business operations and brand identity. This approach aims to leverage Athom’s existing strengths and growth potential while fostering synergies in business operations, research and development capabilities, and platform utilization.

LG’s introduction of the AI home, integrating Athom’s open smart home platform with its own AI technology, reflects the company’s strategic shift from hardware-focused to software-based platform business models. This strategy mirrors LG’s previous expansion in the TV market in 2021, where it transitioned its TV business from hardware to software with the introduction of the webOS platform. LG supported this move by acquiring Alphonso, now operating as LG Ad Solutions, to enhance its content and service offerings within webOS.

LG aims to establish enduring customer relationships through various connected devices in the AI home ecosystem, ultimately positioning itself as a ‘Smart Life Solution Company’ delivering distinctive value propositions.

According to market research by TechNavio, the global smart home market is forecasted to grow significantly, from USD 81.2 billion in 2023 to USD 260.24 billion by 2028, with an average annual growth rate of 26.23 percent.

 

LG emphasizes intelligent space solutions

William Cho, CEO of LG Electronics, emphasizes LG’s evolution into an intelligent space solutions company that enhances experiences across diverse living environments. He underscores LG’s commitment to strategic investments in shifting its business paradigm, citing entries into platform-based appliance services like the webOS advertising platform and AI home.