Tech start-up Minut has announced that it has raised $8 million in Series A funding, bringing the total amount of funding over $10 million.
The round was led by KPN Ventures, and the team also welcome international energy and services company Centrica as a new investor alongside previous backers Karma Ventures, SOSV, and Nordic Makers.
Minut – the makers behind the Minut smart home alarm – has already sold devices in more than 60 countries with a growing team and new office based in London. The new capital will be used to accelerate growth across markets and to strengthen the product portfolio.
Founded in 2014, Minut boasts an enviable executive team, led by CEO/co-founder Nils Mattisson who spent seven years in the Exploratory Design Group at Apple. The team also includes Head of Product Johan Nystrand, who worked as one of the first engineers at Gapminder, later acquired by Google, where he ended up staying for ten years contributing to the development of public health and search.
Marc Sabas, Venture Principal for Centrica Innovations said, “we first came across Minut as part of our Active Ageing start-up challenge and have been really impressed to see how their product has continued to develop over the past year.
“As a global leader in providing cutting-edge connected home products and services, we look forward to working in partnership with the team to explore further opportunities to deliver products that offer greater choice, control and comfort over our customers’ homes.”
“We have created the first complete smart alarm to keep your home safe and sound through a single device. It analyses the environment and any motion or sound to identify and alert you to threats through instant notifications. Installation takes seconds and the app is easy to use for the whole family,“ explains Mattisson.
“Through the use of machine-learning the sound recognition is continuously improved by the Minut community, making the system even better over time. To preserve privacy, the design is camera-free and the data processing runs on-device, so no sound ever has to be recorded. Our aim is to make home security and monitoring accessible to everyone, without having to compromise the feeling of home.”