Australia's Lifx goes from Kickstarter to Series A

The start-up - founded by serial entrepreneur Phil Bosua - raised $1.3 million from crowd-funding platform Kickstarter in just six days at the end of last year. It was targeting just $100,000.

Including this latest round, the company has raised a total of $16.6 million. The investment falls into the category of internet-of-things (IoT), a growing class of consumer tech products with internet connectivity.

The $99 Lifx light bulb is multicolor energy efficient LED bulb that can be controlled with a smart phone. Through an accompanying app, users can adjust the color and brightness of the light - with over 15 million colors available - and can also sync the light with phone notifications.

The bulbs are designed to last around 25 years and can be screwed into standard lamps.

According to a statement, Lifx will use the capital to fund the next phase of its business. This includes making additions to its engineering, sales and marketing teams to develop more IoT products. The company has offices in Los Altos in California and Melbourne in Australia and intends to grow its operations in both jurisdictions .

"Lifx is one of the fastest growing and most promising smart home companies," said Omar Hamoui, a partner with Sequoia. "Phil and team have truly revolutionized the first consumer electronics device: the light bulb. As consumers adopt connected home technologies, the Lifx bulb will be a starting point because it's easy to install and immediately useful on a daily basis."

According to market intelligence firm IDC, IoT technology and services spending worldwide came to $4.8 trillion in 2012 and is expected to reach $8.9 trillion by 2020.

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• Technology
• Australasia
• Venture
• Australia
• Technology
• Sequoia Capital
• Venture