Leeds smart home tech business to crowdfund £1.5m
Leeds smart home technology company Cocoon Alarm is looking to raise £1.5m in its latest fundraising bid on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.
The company has set its sights on a target of £2.5m round, with original investors Aviva Ventures and Breed Reply Investments already committing £1m.
It will use the latest investment to reduce unit production costs, develop additional upgraded monthly subscription services and expand its business development team to focus on both the UK and US market opportunities.
Cocoon secured a £2.4m seed investment from Aviva and Breed Reply in 2015.
The company hopes its fundraising round will complete by 4 March 2017.
Cocoon’s technology provides home security from one device, arming automatically when a home is unoccupied and detecting sounds and vibrations caused by activity in any room in the home.
Cocoon launched commercially in September 2016, and it has now shipped over 1,250 units, with turnover forecast to reach £1.96m in 2017.
Sanjay Parekh, Cocoon’s co-founder, (pictured right with founding team) said: “Since receiving the investment in 2015 from Aviva Ventures and Breed Reply Investments, we have developed our innovative Subsound® technology and established the business as a leader in its field.
“The majority of UK homes are not protected from burglary and I believe that we are ideally placed to grow and meet the need for an easily installed device for the home. We are excited about this latest round of fundraising and believe that, with the market for smart home technology expected to be worth over £38.5bn by 2020, we are in a strong position.”
Andrea Cropley from the Sheffield office of law firm Irwin Mitchell has advised Cocoon on all of its fundraising so far. She said: “Cocoon is a great example of an innovative and forward-looking Yorkshire business. It continues to perform well in the UK and I’m delighted that it has already become established as a well-respected brand in the home security market. I am proud to be associated with the business and with this latest fundraising and I look forward to seeing Cocoon grow and continue to succeed in the future.”
