SwitchBot’s acquisition of Nanoleaf is about more than lighting

Smart lighting company Nanoleaf has been acquired by OneRobotics, the parent company of SwitchBot. In an exclusive interview with The Verge, Nanoleaf CEO Gimmy Chu says the company will remain independent and that he and his cofounder and COO, Christian Yan, will continue to run it. “Nothing is changing operationally,” says Chu, adding that there are plans for product integrations between the two smart home companies.

The sale, which Chu characterized as “more of a merger,” will provide Nanoleaf with significant resources, including a cash infusion that will, among other things, help the company grow its team at its Toronto headquarters. It will also bring access to the manufacturing facilities and supply chain of the Chinese company, which has a market cap of over $2 billion. “This will enable us to make things at a larger scale, with bigger purchasing power to bring down costs for our customers and have tighter control over the supply chain and quality control,” says Chu.

Chu was reluctant to go into financial details, preferring to point to public filings. These show OneRobotics is paying about $40 million over two years to acquire Nanoleaf outright, and that Nanoleaf’s annual revenue is around $30 million, but it has operated at a net loss for the last two years.

Chu says the decision to sell was not out of financial necessity but to help the company grow. “We weren’t in a position where we had to do this. I probably wouldn’t have done it if it didn’t feel right,” adding that the two companies have had a good relationship for many years. “And it does; it feels like a great partnership.”

Despite being around for over a decade, Nanoleaf remains a relatively small company, one that has struggled in recent years to keep pace with bigger competitors such as Philips Hue and Govee. “We’ve accomplished a lot; our light panels started a whole new category,” says Chu. “But as a small team we didn’t have a lot of resources, and we have always had more ideas than we can handle and the challenge has been how to execute them.” One example of this is that it took the company nearly eight years to bring a light switch to market. With OneRobotics behind them, Chu says they’ll have the resources to bring those ideas to life.

Those ideas aren’t just around smart lighting; Nanoleaf is moving into embodied AI and robotics as well as expanding its new LED-based wellness product line. SwitchBot has also been expanding into AI and robotics, debuting the Onero H1, its first humanoid home robot, at CES this year, following the launch of an AI-powered tennis robot and a companion robot. This is in addition to a raft of more traditional smart home products the company produces, though, notably, the one area where it has little presence is smart lighting.

According to the filings, OneRobotics views the acquisition as a key step in its “strategy to build a global home embodied AI ecosystem.” That’s a version of a phrase we’re starting to hear from several smart home companies — most recently Dreame.

The acquisition will also help SwitchBot expand into brick-and-mortar retail in North America and Europe, where Nanoleaf has partnerships with Apple and big-box stores such as Costco, Best Buy, and The Home Depot.

In a statement to The Verge, SwitchBot confirmed that the brands will remain separate and said that with the partnership, “We are creating a stronger technical and product foundation to develop future innovations that make the home more responsive, adaptive, and effortless to use … Our shared goal is to create a more unified intelligent home ecosystem with seamless interoperability, where robots, devices, and ambient experiences work together naturally.”

Chu says OneRobotics values Nanoleaf for its creativity, product development, and technology. “We were first movers in Matter and Thread. They can benefit from all the hardships we went through there.” He also adds that the companies have similar cultures. “We’re of similar size and scale with different strengths and a lot of synergies. We’re both scrappy fighters.”

Having covered SwitchBot and Nanoleaf for many years, I can see some of those synergies. Both have built reputations for innovation in an industry increasingly dominated by fast followers, but they’ve excelled in different areas.

SwitchBot’s strength lies in practical problem-solving, from its original robotic finger that pushes a switch (hence the name SwitchBot) to its lineup of smart home devices, including locks, sensors, shades, robot vacuums, and more. In contrast, Nanoleaf has built its brand around ambitious ideas and experiential products, from modular LED lighting panels to screen mirroring and music sync — even an AI-powered lighting system (before they were cool). Nanoleaf also has expertise in connectivity standards and smart home ecosystems — areas where SwitchBot has lagged behind.

Chu’s positive characterization of the deal feels optimistic — few acquisitions come without tradeoffs. But if OneRobotics indeed allows the company to operate independently while getting the resources to execute its plans, there’s a path for both SwitchBot and Nanoleaf to emerge stronger at a time when commoditization is posing challenges for smaller smart home companies.