SNUPI Technologies, the Seattle startup commercializing sensor networks and home health monitoring services, has raised a $7.5 million Series A to commercialize its first product, WallyHome.
The investment round was led by Washington Research Foundation Capital, joined by Madrona Venture Group, the Seattle firm that led the company’s $1.7 million seed funding round in December 2012.
Since then, SNUPI has made strides in turning an innovation in low-power communications technology developed at Georgia Institute of Technology, and refined at University of Washington, into a consumer product ready to hit the market. Using low-cost sensors that detect changes in temperature and moisture, it promises to detect costly home hazards such as water leaks, frozen pipes, and mold, notifying home owners before they become a bigger problem.
Strategic and individual investors joined the funding round, which will back the market introduction of WallyHome. The product, available for preorder on Jan. 20 and for sale in March, consists of a central hub and six sensor nodes that can be placed in attics, crawlspaces, and under appliances, plus a cloud-based hazard alert service. The low-power communications technology allows the sensor nodes to remain in place without a battery change for more than 10 years, the company says.
SNUPI Technologies was co-founded by the co-inventors of the technology Shwetak Patel and Matt Reynolds, both now professors at the University of Washington, UW doctoral student Gabe Cohn, and Seattle serial entrepreneur Jeremy Jaech, who is CEO.
For more details on the company’s technology and market approach—including how early Wally prototypes have been used by Patel as a de facto baby monitor—check out this profile of SNUPI Technologies from November.
