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This week we caught up with Tomas Turek, the co-founder and CEO of Angee Technologies, the AI-led smart home security system that is on a mission to make your home safer.
Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for Angee?
When Google bought Nest in 2014 we immediately recognised a never before seen opportunity for a startup to consider building physical products that can have an impact on everyday lives.
Whilst testing a number of products on the market, we almost immediately identified a huge disparity between what was currently available in terms of protecting our homes and families and customer expectations in the 21st century. We also discovered how surprisingly dangerous our homes can be; in the UK alone, there is on average a burglary almost every minute, there are over 100 house fires per day, and a senior falls at home every 27 seconds. In the US, it’s even more startling: on average there is a burglary every 13 seconds, a house fire nearly every 2 minutes. But still, the vast majority of people are not using technology to make their homes safer.
Our goal then became clear; to build a home security system that is reliable and automated so you don’t have to think about it.
How does Angee differ from a product like Ring?
Ring is a great company and potentially a complimentary product, but it is not a direct competitor as we have built an indoor solution for apartments, secondary homeowners and others, whereas Ring is more skewed towards external use for different profiles.
Angee also focuses on security in its entirety; detecting intrusions, fires, people getting hurt and providing options to prevent and resolve some of these issues – all whilst respecting people’s privacy, which we think is very important. We are actually currently talking to a very important player in this market about a strategic integration that could further increase value proposition to our customers.
The fact that Amazon bought Ring for $1Bn shows how attractive our sector is and that there is substantial M&A activity, which in our case will hopefully lead to number of strategic exit opportunities.
How has the equity crowdfunding process differed from the Kickstarter process?
I think the biggest difference is that the company is in different position. Whilst we were on Kickstarter that was our sole focus, however as we have grown since then we now have to balance other projects whilst raising. Also the Seedrs community of investors is very engaged and wants to help in very different way to Kickstarter; they want to help in adding value to the business side of things. Community means a lot to us and we view Seedrs as a great way to grow it.
Why are you raising capital through crowdfunding?
Community. I believe that community is key. I care about building a community of people who share same values and can support each other, learn from each other and make an impact together toward a direction agreed on by all.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
My father has been a tech entrepreneur since I was a little kiddo, so growing up in that environment made being an entrepreneur very natural to me. I’ve always tended to dive head first into anything I’m passionate about.
Angee is certainly my biggest project to date. So far as a CEO, I’ve built a team of 38 people and growing. I care about solving the right problem so I listen and constantly think and rethink the product. We have been very fortunate to surround ourselves with talented people around the world to create a winning team that will make this dream happen.
What’s the best part about being an entrepreneur?
Everything. The team, the people around the project – it all comes back to the community and searching for meaning in what we do together.
What advice would you give people who are eager to set up their own business?
Start!
Where would you like to see Angee Technologies in a year’s time?
We would like to be a market leader in terms of growth and momentum in the smart home security market, connecting people to technology in meaningful ways.
If you’d like to ask Tomas your own questions, you can do so via the discussion forum on the campaign page, where you can also find out more about how Angee will be bringing their product to market.
Investing in startups involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. This blog post has been approved as a financial promotion by Seedrs Limited.
