ASSA ABLOY Finalizes Acquisition of Smart Lock Maker August Home
As the popularity of smart locks and video doorbells continues to rise, ASSA ABLOY has closed on its acquisition of August Home.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — ASSA ABLOY announces the acquisition of San Francisco-based August Home, a provider of smart home access products and services like smart locks and doorbell cameras with a primary focus on the DIY channel, has closed.
More details about what the acquisition means for the company can be found below in a blog post by August Co-founder & CEO Jason Johnson.
August’s smart locks now feature its DoorSense technology, which is an intelligent integrated sensor that tells users if their door is open or closed.
“August Home strengthens our residential smart door strategy with complementary smart locks, expansion into video doorbells and comprehensive solutions for home delivery,” says Thanasis Molokotos, executive vice president of ASSA ABLOY and Head of the Americas division.
Founded by Jason Johnson and Yves Behar, August Home has developed three generations of smart door locks and two generations of video doorbells, making the company among the industry leaders in technology, partnerships and retail sales.
“August has created a fantastic consumer experience through differentiated features and software,” notes Molokotos. “We look forward to the opportunity to draw from the 180 years of cumulative experience of the Yale team plus the technology expertise of the August team to create the future of smart residential doors.”
Johnson adds the acquistion will complement ASSA ABLOY’s Yale Lock brand and its products, which include a selection of smart lock products.
“We have always admired the design and quality of Yale Locks,” states Johnson. “This is a great opportunity for us to work with the world’s largest lock and access company.”
Johnson wrote the following today in a company blog post:
Today we officially join the Americas division of ASSA ABLOY, the largest lock and access control company in the world. While August Home will continue to operate independently from our headquarters in San Francisco, we will immediately begin the work of exploring how we leverage our talent, technology expertise and software-centric approach with the capabilities, reach and distribution of ASSA ABLOY.
Accelerating In-home Delivery
Our two companies have a shared vision for both smart doors and making in-home delivery a reality. At August Home, we’ve been executing against our vision for August Access since 2015 and have seen tremendous momentum through independent pilots we’ve completed and, most recently, our partnership with Walmart to deliver groceries directly into consumers refrigerators.
The close of the ASSA ABLOY acquisition will allow us to continue on this trajectory and begin integrating August Access across ASSA ABLOY’s broad portfolio of locks to make these services more broadly available for a wider variety of door and lock types in North America and internationally. In early 2018 this will include adding Yale locks to the August Access platform to enable in-home delivery and services.
Additionally, our cloud platform allows Yale to expand the capabilities of its locks with powerful integrations. Together we can offer a flexible multi-family dwelling lock solution that uses August or Yale locks and provides value for both residents and property managers. One benefit is the ability to eliminate package delivery issues in multi-family buildings by allowing delivery services to place packages inside the building.
Portfolio and Channel Expansion
August Home strengthens ASSA ABLOY’s residential smart door strategy with complementary smart locks, expansion into doorbell cameras, an established retail channel and comprehensive solutions for home delivery.
Alignment with the ASSA ABLOY/Yale brand will broaden opportunities for August in the professional channel. Yale has established relationships across builders, architects and professional installers in the security channel. This will give Yale’s professional installers a retrofit lock to add to their portfolio.
A Culture of Innovation
While this acquisition is a significant milestone for both companies, it’s important that our customers know we will maintain our founding principles of innovation that have driven the company from the beginning. I am also personally committed to working with ASSA ABLOY to continue making the smart home an accessible reality and see our vision for unattended secure delivery continuing to materialize over the coming years.
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our FREE digital newsletters!
Related Content
Security Is Our Business, Too
For professionals who recommend, buy and install all types of electronic security equipment, a free subscription to Commercial Integrator + Security Sales & Integration is like having a consultant on call. You’ll find an ideal balance of technology and business coverage, with installation tips and techniques for products and updates on how to add to your bottom line.
A FREE subscription to the top resource for security and integration industry will prove to be invaluable.
