500 Startups-Backed Evoz To Power British Telecom’s Home And Connected Devices Offering

Given that Google just acquired connected device maker Nest for $3.2 billion, I’m sure plenty of others have now realised that this is the best evidence yet that the smart device space – especially in homes – is really starting to take off. So while plenty have speculated about this next wave there, others are capitalising on it.

Back in September 2011 Evoz, based between the US and Israel, was positioned as a modern baby monitoring (audio and video) system that worked over iOS, working over Wifi, on a monthly subscription basis.

It’s now evolved into a cloud-based platform aimed at any connected devices, and has announced a deal with British Telecom to power the next generation of its home automation devices. It hopes that partnering with large device companies such as Belkin and British Telecom will give it ‘speed to market’.

The Evoz platform focuses on the software behind smart devices to enable functionality beyond today’s gadgets – the ones that only remotely control and monitor – into more advanced functions.

Its platform claims to detect different events in your home (alarms, doorbells, etc.) and do smarter things with that information, such as alert service providers.

Their competitors include Yoics (video streaming solutions to connected devices); Ayla Networks (connectivity solutions for wireless products); Dropcam (Video monitoring, storage and analytics); Nest (valuable data via the thermostat and smoke detector) and Withings (data and services). Then there is connected device platforms which do “IFTTT” style services based on triggers.

But while CEO Avishai Shoham admits their competitors include either cloud platforms or like Nest, largely in hardware, he says “our focus remains software, allowing Evoz to provide comprehensive functionality for data-enabled personalized services for multiple hardware providers.”

The company has previously secured $900k in seed funding, with a round led by Dave McClure and 500 Startups, with additional funding from Initial Capital, David Shen, and Medital.