August 4, 2022
Feit Acquires Australian Smart Lighting Brand
LIFX brand lands in U.S. and may help expand Feit's smart home market share
California-based consumer lamp maker Feit has acquired Australian smart home company LIFX. Terms were not disclosed.
LIFX is a DBA brand of Lifi Labs – a former subsidiary of South Australia-based Buddy Technologies. The company is headquartered in Cremorne, Victoria, Australia with U.S. offices in Redwood City, California.
In February 2019, Australian-based Buddy Technologies Ltd. announced the acquisition Lifi Labs (LIFX) for $26.5 million USD. At the time, the company was reportedly generating $27 million USD in sales with a negative net income.
According to a June 2021 article in The Australian Financial Review (AFR), Buddy Technologies had been recently stung by the abrupt resignation of all three of its non-executive board directors following a probe by the sharemarket operator into "inflated" revenues. Earlier this year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission published more details questioning Buddy’s consumer lighting business as part of its financial reporting surveillance program.
Feit's announcement stated that it purchased LIFX assets, which seemingly includes brand, products, employees and company assets among many other things – but not the corporation itself or any of its accompanying potential liabilities.
The nature of highly fragmented and competitive consumer lamp market causes many companies in the category to compete on price with standard LED A lamps, while making better margins with unique smart home products. The acquisition of LIFX seemingly adds robust capabilities and breadth to the Feit smart home platform.
Below is the announcement from Feit.
Feit Electric Acquires LIFX Assets
Acquisition Elevates Feit Electric’s Position in the Smart Home Market
LOS ANGELES -- Feit Electric Company, Inc. (“Feit Electric”), a leading global lighting and smart home brand headquartered in California, today announced that it acquired the LIFX assets from Lifi Labs, Inc., including its award-winning and patented smart lighting platform, the custom-built feature-rich app and firmware, product designs, and the LIFX brand.
“This acquisition is about fueling the LIFX vision of reinventing lighting,” said Alan Feit, President of Feit Electric. “LIFX focused on the user experience, saying we deserved something better than the boring old light bulb. And then they delivered! LIFX products offer industry-leading bright vibrant colors, the coolest features that are fun to use, and lots of advanced control options while making it effortless and intuitive. We are excited to keep that momentum going with even more revolutionary products and new app features deserving of the LIFX brand. I can’t wait to continue what they started.”
Feit Electric will offer a suite of LIFX products and plans to expand the line with new innovations. In addition, Feit Electric will support and evolve the LIFX app and cloud platform while maintaining a separate Feit Electric smart platform and app with possible future integrations. No disruptions are expected to either platform. The LIFX brand and products will complement Feit Electric’s line of products and benefit from Feit Electric’s supply chain and distribution capabilities. Feit Electric will sell products under the LIFX brand in the United States and in other regions. Visit LIFX for all LIFX customer support inquiries and future updates.
