There’s smart money in smart homes

Take a look around your living room: you can shop using Amazon’s Alexa, plan your day using Google’s Home or Hub devices, and control your heating and lighting via an app. Suffice to say smart homes are already a reality. Depending on where you live, you might receive your parcels – or your lunch – by delivery drone. While Amazon and Alphabet are the most obvious beneficiaries of this new wave of in-home tech, there are lesser-known companies making inroads too. 🏠

How can I invest in home automation? It’s not just Big Tech leading the home automation charge: there are countless companies along each stage of the supply chain – from component manufacturers to installers and service providers. Multinational conglomerate Philips, for instance, provides smart lighting that you can control with your voice. Control4 was the only publicly traded company focused solely on home automation. It was acquired in 2019, perhaps inevitably, by a privately held firm SnapAV. And there are also telecoms companies looking to capitalize on the opportunity, with the likes of Comcast bundling security and lighting services alongside their cable TV and internet service offerings.