There seems to be enough news about mergers and acquisitions on the smart home front these days. Following the acquisition of Ecobee by generating company Generac, Level Home announced today that it is acquiring Dwelo, news that arrives as it first announces a $ 100 million C-Series north, run by Cox Communications and Walmart. The round brings Dwelo funding to $ 171 million so far. The acquisition is the first company.

Walmart was one of two key investors (along with Lennar) in the $ 71 million increase announced by Level Home when it came out of stealth in 2019. The company's main product at the time was Level Lock, a smart lock designed to it looks like a dumb padlock. with easy installation that works with HomeKit. The "first invisible smart lock" could then be unlocked with an iPhone or Apple Watch.

I wrote Dwelo two years earlier, when the tenant-focused smart home solution raised $ 4.9 million. Its offer focuses on apartment dwellers - or rather the administrators / owners of these apartments. It effectively allows them to control a wide range of devices in different apartments in their building.

"By welcoming Dwelo to Level, we can now provide a seamless, carefully designed hardware experience with a powerful SaaS platform, providing residents with incredible control, comfort and new skills to customize their home," said Level CEO. John Martin, in a statement. "We founded Level with the vision of reimagining the smart home, and with Dwelo, we are introducing the next generation experience for property owners and residents."

The merger of the brand seems to take place as a kind of vertical integration, probably including Level Locks as part of the Dwelo product offering focused on the owner. Apartment buildings are a local step for a company of smart locks growing in a crowded space. These types of devices have focused more on homeowners, who have to deal with less bureaucracy when installing.

In addition to providing the latest connected home products, building owners no doubt have their own reasons for wanting remote control over door locks.