Tado, an up-and-coming startup that’s best known for its intelligent climate control systems, announced today that it has closed a 13.6 million dollar round of funding. The new investment comes from existing investors Target Partners, Shortcut Ventures, and a number of unnamed others; and will be used to bring the company’s smart heating and AC products to more European markets.
The company makes two products: smart, habit-learning thermostat similar to Nest, and a newly-launched smart air conditioning system — both of which use geofencing to anticipate your arrival and bring your home to the proper temp. The latter product just finished up a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, and is set to ship in the next few months.
This new infusion of cash, however, will not be used on the company’s new smart AC device. Instead, it will be used almost exlusively to promote the company’s first product, the Tado thermostat, and expand existing availability in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and also reach further into Northern Europe.
“With this new investment we plan to expand sales of our products to all major European countries and to continue building a global brand. We are very proud of having a great group of investors on board and we appreciate their trust in our company. Target Partners and Shortcut Ventures have made very valuable contributions to help build our company over the last few years,” says Christian Deilmann, founder and CEO of Tado.
Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, the company’s newfound funding will also allow it to establish a strong foothold in Europe and go toe-to-toe with Nest. Just a few short months ago, the Google-owned smart thermostat maker hopped across the pond and started selling to customers in the UK.
Acknowledging this, Tado founder and CTO Johannes Schwarz added that, “The new investment will further strengthen our position and allow us to maintain the huge technological head start we have gained in covering Europe’s varying heating landscape.”
It appears that the battle of the smart thermostats has just begun in Europe.
