Industrial group Legrand’s expansive manufacturer portfolio continues to grow, with French hardware specialist and co-collaborator Netatmo reportedly its latest addition.
Official terms of the deal are undisclosed, but Netatmo’s founder and CEO, Fred Potter, did provide some insight into why the deal came about. He told TechCrunch: “Our strategy is the connected home, but there are some connected features that we can’t sell to consumers because those products are sold to professionals directly.”
Working with Legrand is nothing new for Netatmo – the two companies worked together recently on developing a ‘Céliane with Netatmo’ line of switches and power outlets for smart homes. The range allowed a wireless master switch to be deployed near an entrance, users to control parts of their home from Messenger and also included Alexa-controlled outlets.
Netatmo is probably most well known for its smart thermostats and WiFi-connected ‘weather stations’ which allows users to measure, analyse their indoor and outdoor environments and personalise settings. It’s recently made a foray into smart cameras (capable of facial recognition) to take advantage of the ever-growing security market.
Details may be sparse when it comes to finances, but what we do know is that Netatmo’s employee base is going to be integrated into Legrand, with founder Potter taking the role CTO for Legrand’s research & development division.
On announcing the acquisition, the companies revealed that Netatmo is currently generating approximately €45 million ($51 million) in annual revenue, so all in all looks like a good deal from both sides.