Seems there’s a fair bit of M&A news on the smart home front these days. Following Ecobee’s acquisition by generator company Generac, Level Home today announced that it’s acquiring Dwelo, news that arrives as the former also announces a Series C north of $100 million, led by Cox Communications and featuring Walmart. The round brings Level’s funding up to $171 million to date. The acquisition is the company’s first.
Walmart was one of two key investors (along with Lennar) in the $71 million raise Level Home announced when it came out of stealth in 2019. The company’s primary product at the time was Level Lock, a smart lock designed to look like a dumb lock with simple installation that works with HomeKit. The “first invisible smart lock” could then be unlocked with an iPhone or Apple Watch.
We wrote up Dwelo two years earlier when the renter-focused smart home solution raised $4.9 million. Its offering is focused at apartment dwellers — or rather managers/owners of those apartments. Effectively, it lets them control a wide range of devices across different apartments in their building.
“By welcoming Dwelo to Level, we now can offer a seamless experience of thoughtfully designed hardware with a powerful SaaS platform, giving residents incredible command, convenience and new abilities to personalize their home,” Level CEO John Martin said in a release. “We founded Level with the vision of reimagining the smart home, and with Dwelo, we are introducing the next generation experience for property owners and residents.”
The brand merger looks likely to play out as a kind of vertical integration, likely bundling Level Locks as part of Dwelo’s landlord-focused product offering. Apartment buildings are a local step for a growing smart lock company in a crowded space. These sorts of devices have more traditionally been focused on home owners, who have to deal with less red tape upon installation.
In addition to offering up the amenities of the latest connected home products, building owners no doubt have their own reasons for wanting remote control over door locks.