LG Electronics has acquired an 80% stake in Dutch technology company Athom to expand its business in AI-powered home connectivity systems. The acquisition, announced on Wednesday, will integrate Athom’s Homey platform. It links appliances, sensors, and light devices with LG’s AI-enabled LG ThinQ platform. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
This acquisition is LG Electronics’ first company-wide M&A deal in two years and its first acquisition of a software company in three years. LG plans to acquire Athom within the next three years fully, enhancing its capabilities in smart home technologies.Â
Athom, founded in 2014, is a small company with US$5.9 million in revenue and 54 employees. It is known for its Homey smart home hub.
Enschede, Netherlands-based Athom, specializes in technology that connects home appliances, sensors, and lighting devices and offers cloud subscription services. Its main product, the smart-home hub Homey, has expanded primarily in Europe over the past decade and boasts a customer base of hundreds of thousands. Homey devices are also available in markets such as Australia, Singapore, the U.S., and Canada.
LG Electronics plans to integrate Athom’s capabilities with its generative AI-enabled ThinQ platform to create an AI-managed home environment. The integration aims to provide customized services by linking Homey Pro with LG’s AI home appliance ecosystem, which supports over 50,000 home appliances and IoT devices. This collaboration will enable LG to gain deeper insights into customer preferences and usage patterns, enhancing the personalization of their “AI homes.”
Athom will continue to operate independently after the acquisition, maintaining its open smart home platform, which connects and controls products from global brands like Philips and Ikea.
LG Electronics’ acquisition of Athom is its first software-related M&A deal in over three years, following its purchase of Alfonso in 2021. With this, LG plans to transition from low-margin home appliances to becoming a smart life solution company.Â
The global smart home market is projected to grow significantly, with market research firm Technavio predicting an annual growth rate of 26.23%, reaching $262.35 billion by 2028. LG aims to leverage AI and platform-based solutions to stay competitive in this expanding market.
LG Group announced in March that it plans to invest over $74 billion in the next five years to foster AI and other future growth drivers. More than half of this investment will be allocated to research and development to transform South Korea into a manufacturing hub featuring smart factories and advanced capabilities.
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