Brilliant, the company founded in 2015 with a focus on smart home control, lighting, and home automation systems, has received a $40 million Series B financing round led by Next47 and Celesta Capital with participation by Resideo Technologies, August Capital, Peak State Ventures, Gaingels, and Miramar Ventures.
The new capital brings Brilliant’s total funding to date to $61 million and will allow the company to expand its product offerings and double down on its sales strategy for single-family home builders, multifamily developers, property managers, and professional integrators.
“We’re experiencing phenomenal growth and seeing unprecedented demand for our smart home system, which delivers simplicity and interoperability to a wide range of customers,” said Aaron Emigh, CEO of Brilliant. “We’re particularly excited about the home builder, developer, and integrator channels, and our new investors will help us further expand in these markets and unlock the full potential of a true smart home experience.”
Brilliant for the Mass Market
Brilliant is a mass-market home control, lighting, and automation system designed to make it easier for homeowners, families, and guests to control every smart home device in a home such as lighting, thermostats, cameras, doorbells, locks, music, garage openers, intercom systems, as well as experiences like scenes.
Brilliant touchscreen panels can be installed wherever standard light switches are located.
Brilliant also offers smart dimmer switches and smart plugs to extend smart lighting throughout a home.
The system works with the most popular smart home brands and products, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Honeywell Home by Resideo, Ring, Sonos, Google Nest, Schlage, Kwikset, ecobee, and Philips Hue.
New Board Members Announced
As part of the fundraising, Matthew Cowan of Next47 and Nicholas Brathwaite of Celesta Capital will be joining Brilliant’s board.
“We are thrilled to be investing and partnering with Brilliant during this high-growth stage of their journey,” said Matthew Cowan, general partner at Next47. “Given the widespread adoption of smart home technologies, we are seeing a massive shift in user expectations around having a complete, affordable, and seamless smart home experience. Brilliant’s ability to seamlessly unite all smart home devices in the home is a real game-changer that we believe will make them the next great smart home company coming out of Silicon Valley.”
Celesta Capital General Partner Nicholas Brathwaite said that his company believes that much of the growth in smart home technologies will be propelled by new construction, putting Brilliant in a prime position. “With Brilliant’s strong channel relationships and traction and compelling product offerings, the company is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this trend,” he said.
Resideo’s Strategic Investment
A new strategic investor in this financing is Resideo, a manufacturer of connected residential technology products, including smart thermostats, security systems, and behind-the-wall components and controls. Resideo is also a distributor of commercial and residential security and audio-visual products through its ADI Global Distribution business.
“Brilliant is Resideo’s first strategic investment, and we are extremely excited to deepen our relationship with an innovator in the smart home controls market,” said Travis Merrill, chief strategy and commercial officer at Resideo. “Brilliant brings the smart home experience together in a unique and user-friendly way. A key component of Resideo’s long-term strategy is partnering with residential technology leaders to leverage our product and channel strengths to provide even more value to customers and end-users. We have teamed with Brilliant since their early days, and we look forward to expanding this relationship across our product offering and within our ADI distribution business.”
Brilliant first made its mark on the industry in 2017 by creating an entirely new class of affordable smart home systems that bring high-end home control and automation capabilities to every homeowner and renter. Fueled by growth in homebuilder and multifamily channels, the company has experienced exponential growth, growing more than 400 percent since February of 2020.
The Brilliant Smart Home Control is the highest-rated smart home system on Amazon.com and HomeDepot.com. In the summer of 2020, Brilliant started shipping its $69.99 Smart Dimmer Switch, and in 2021, started shipping its $29.99 Smart Plug, rounding out the Brilliant Smart Home System.
The new backers join Brilliant’s existing investors, including August Capital, Miramar Ventures, Peak State Ventures, The Box Group, and other prominent investors.
