Amazon Alexa Fund Invests In Smart Thermostat Company ecobee

Ecobee, the maker of a smart thermostat, has completed a $35 million round of funding, which included an investment from Amazon’s Alexa Fund.

Amazon’s Alexa Fund is joining with Thomvest and Relay Ventures to invest in the startup that has become the first smart thermostat to sync with Amazon’s personal assistant, Alexa.

“These investments enable ecobee to drive significant operational improvements, profitable growth and future product innovations for our customers,” said Stuart Lombard, president and CEO of ecobee, in a press release announcing the closing of the round of fundraising. “We see this as a strong vote of confidence in our market-leading products and the growth potential of the connected home market.”

With the $35 million, which is ecobee’s largest round of funding to date, the company has now raised $51 million. The ecobee3 smarter Wi-Fi thermostat with room sensors was the first thermostat to be compatible with Amazon Echo through the Alexa Smart Home Skill API, offering homeowners the ability to control the room’s temperature with their voice. The company said that, in addition to voice control through Alexa-enabled devices, the ecobee3 delivers an average of 23 percent savings on household heating and cooling bills.

“This funding round marks our largest single Alexa Fund investment to date and builds on our existing relationship with ecobee, who was instrumental in helping us build the Alexa Smart Home Skill API,” said Steve Rabuchin, VP of Amazon Alexa, in the same press release. “We’ve been impressed with ecobee’s innovative smart home technologies and their ability to improve the everyday lives of homeowners. We’re excited to see what the future holds for this growing company and the new voice experiences they’ll bring to Amazon Alexa customers.”

Since its founding in 2007, ecobee has enjoyed more than 100 percent year-over-year growth and was recently named number one on Navigant’s annual Smart Thermostat Leaderboard rankings.