Back in August, BetaKit wrote about Alertly, a Toronto-based startup set to disrupt the consumer security space by creating the first device to monitor both your home and your car. Today, Alertly has officially launched their Indiegogo campaign and is raising $100,000 to help bring this sensor-based system out to market.
Alertly is a DIY security system which is making effective use of a couple of technology trends, including the internet of things (IOT), the smart home and big data.
The concept of Alertly was conceived at TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in San Francsico last year. The team just recently graduated as part of the fourth cohort of the INcubes startup accelerator in Toronto.
The Alertly hub looks sleek and modern – taking a cue from other smart home systems we have seen before it, like Nest and Canary. The pyramid shaped hub is the brains of the operations and is meant to be able to blend in with home décor, as it’s small enough to fit on a bookshelf or side table. The design was extremely import to Alertly. “Our initial vision statement was to create the ‘Nest for Security’,” founder Jean-Luc David told BetaKit. “The pyramid shape came about as the triangle is considered the strongest geometric shape in nature”.
But as much as design was at the forefront for the team, so too was ease of use which inspired some pretty neat features for the system including a key fob which automatically arms and disarms the alarm system when you leave or return to your house.
The home edition of Alertly uses the hub and a series of easy-to-mount motion sensor and camera combo devices which are placed around your home, office or apartment.
But what really sets Alertly apart from other systems currently fighting for market share in this heated space is Alertly’s vehicle edition. This edition is an all-in-one system that easily clips to a sun visor inside the vehicle. The system can help you know if someone is breaking into your car, capture intruders using the HD camera or even find out where a car was parked using GPS.
Users will be able to view data and receive notifications from both the home and vehicle systems. The accompanying app will be available for iOS, Android and Windows smartphones
Backers of this campaign have a couple of fantastic perks to choose from, some with limited quantities available. The Early Bird Home and Early Bird Vehicle bundles are sure to catch the eye of the uber early adopter, as backers of these packages will be one of the first to receive an Alertly for July 2014. There are only 100 of each of these packages available.
Developers who are eager to take advantage of Alertly’s upcoming SDK can select the $199 Developer Bundle to be sent the device as soon as it’s produced along with the API documentation and SDK to get coding. The developer ecosystem is extremely important for Alertly. “We’re developers ourselves and philosophically we wanted to do a DIY system,” said David. “We’re excited to see what apps developers build. We’re focused on security right now, but we have an eye out in the future towards home automation, which opens up a whole new set of exciting opportunities for developers. Apps definitely bring value to the hardware platform & makes it more appealing for consumers.”
The addition of home automation features will help Alertly continue to remain competitive in this growing market. There have been numerous crowdfunding campaigns with similar devices all vying for a spot in the home, but the tremendous success of those that have come before Alertly bodes well for this device on Indiegogo.
Connected personal home security systems have historically done quite well on this crowdfunding platform. Canary, one of the most well known crowdfunded home security systems, raised $1.9 million in August of this year for a campaign which was originally aiming to raise $100,000 as its goal. In April, iSmartAlarm from Mountain View, California raised $226,000 of their $50,000 goal. And active campaign, Piper, a home security and automation system from Ottawa, Ontario, has surpassed its goal of $100,000 having raised $250,000+ with 43 hours left to go.
Alertly’s Indiegogo campaign went live at 12PM EST today.