Aviva-backed smart home firm Cocoon raises £2.4m in crowdfunding
Smart home security system firm Cocoon, backed by insurer Aviva's venture unit, has raised £2.4m ($3m) in equity crowdfunding on Crowdcube. The maker of infrasound-detection security devices has reached a valuation of $15m after beginning a series of fund raising on Indiegogo in 2014, including £2.69m in strategic investment from Aviva Ventures and Breed Reply. Cocoon's devices monitor homes without the need for expensive camera equipment and other sensors. The Subsound product employs machine learning to understand the rhythms of a home so as not to trigger false alarms.
Smart home security system provider Cocoon has managed to raise £2.46 million in equity crowdfunding on Crowdcube, with its campaign drawing support from 1117 investors, eventually reaching a $15 million valuation.

First launching on crowdfunding site Indiegogo in November 2014, Cocoon went on to raise $250,000 (approximately £198,000), also raking in £2.69 million in strategic investment from Aviva Ventures and Breed Reply as part of its Seed round last year.

The motive for establishing Cocoon was an attempt to bypass traditional home security, which the founders believed to be too expensive and complicated. As an alternative, Cocoon came up with its proprietary Subsound® technology, which claims to pick up infrasounds that cannot be registered by human hearing. It boasts of the ability to protect the entire home by picking up these low level sound waves, and notifying the residents should anything unusual happen.

Also noteworthy is that, Cocoon’s built in AI, using machine learning and geo-location, is designed to quickly tune itself to your household’s frequency, which means it learns the rhythms of your home to avoid false alarms. If the system triggers an alert, users will be notified on their smartphone app, and according to the firm, all data is encrypted and uploaded securely on to the cloud. Cocoon claims to be the only home security system that protects your whole home from a single all-in-one device.

Over the past couple years, Cocoon has expanded its team from the original five members to over 30 people based in Leeds and London. According to a statement, the new inflow of funds will go towards a continued scaling of the business.

Sanjay Parekh, CEO and co-founder at Cocoon, said:

I’m really proud that Cocoon has raised over £2.46m from more than 1,100 investors. It’s incredible for our team to know we have that many people supporting us in the next phase of Cocoon’s journey. The funds will enable us to expand our retail distribution, insurance partnerships and continue to improve our product offering for current and future customers.

According to the company, it caters to customers in 50 different countries across the globe.

FEATURED IMAGE : Cristiano Betta // FLICKR // CC 2.0