Toronto-based smart home company Ecobee to be acquired by U.S.-based Generac – MobileSyrup

Toronto-based smart home device company Ecobee will be acquired by U.S.-based Generac Holdings for $770 million USD (roughly $952 million CAD), as first reported by BetaKit.

Generac will reportedly pay $200 million (about $245 million CAD) in cash and $450 million (roughly $556 million CAD) in common stock to Ecobee’s equity holders. Generac Holdings is known for creating home generators.

Ecobee, founded in 2007, is best known for its several smart home thermostats, though recently, the company released a smart home camera. It also sells an Alexa and Siri-enabled version of its SmartThermostat. For Apple-powered Siri voice activation, a HomePod mini is required.

According to BetaKit, Ecobee says its devices are used in more than two million homes across North America, and the company currently has over 500 employees globally.

“Generac’s evolution into an energy technology solutions company creates many opportunities to integrate our ecobee products with their residential device offerings, enabling direct monitoring and control of a significant portion of the home’s electrical load,” said Stuart Lombard, founder and chief executive officer of ecobee, in a press release.

In a smart home industry full of massive players like Google, Amazon and Apple, Ecobee remained one of the few independent hardware manufacturers in the space. It’s currently unclear how this acquisition will affect Ecobee moving forward.

For more on the acquisition, check out BetaKit’s extensive coverage.

Source: BetaKit