Legrand is pursuing its external growth strategy and today announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire1Netatmo, a French leading smart home company. Legrand has been a shareholder of Netatmo since 20152.

Founded in 2011, Netatmo creates simple and smart products for a safer and more comfortable home. The company has launched many devices and accessories in the field of smart home sold all around the world. Netatmo collaborates with companies in the building industry through its “with Netatmo” partnership program to develop smart integrated solutions that fit into home infrastructure. It has thus co-developed several connected home management solutions with Legrand, such as Céliane with Netatmo and Living Now with Netatmo, both well received on their markets.

The acquisition of Netatmo, whose brand will be integrated into Legrand’s portfolio, will enable the Group to strengthen its presence in the smart home market, and speed up the development of Eliot, its program for connected solutions:

  • Legrand will enrich its offering with new, complementary and high-potential connected product categories for the home;
  • The Group will expand its base of connected products thanks to Netatmo’s 1.3 million active products;
  • Netatmo’s 130 engineers will bring their expertise in artificial intelligence, integration of software into products, and user experience to Legrand’s R&D teams. Fred Potter, Netatmo’s Founder and CEO, will become the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Legrand’s Eliot program, and will contribute to the design of connected solutions from Legrand and Netatmo.

Based in Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris area), Netatmo has nearly 225 employees and generates annual sales of around €45 million.

Benoît Coquart, Legrand’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Legrand is delighted to welcome Netatmo’s teams, having experienced their talents and energy during the very fruitful co-development project that led to successful launches of Céliane with Netatmo, Living Now with Netatmo and dooxie with Netatmo. Legrand and Netatmo’s combined expertise in IoT will allow to speed up the development of our connected, high value-in-use offerings.”

Fred Potter, Netatmo’s Founder and CEO, added: “The acquisition of Netatmo by Legrand will help make smart homes a reality, along with our aim of seeing our solutions adopted by as many people as possible. Our teams will continue to develop new products and update existing products with the same care to offer our users the best smart home experience.”

 

1 Transaction subject to standard conditions precedent.

2 In November 2015, Legrand announced it was taking part in a round of financing totalling €30 million alongside, notably, Netatmo’s historic investors Bpifrance, the French national investment bank, and Iris Capital.