SwitchBot’s acquisition of Nanoleaf is about more than lighting

Smart lighting company Nanoleaf has been acquired by OneRobotics , the parent company of SwitchBot. In an exclusive interview with The Verge , Nanoleaf CEO Gimmy Chu says the company will remain independent and that he and his cofounder and COO, Christian Yan, will continue to run it. “Nothing is changing operationally,” says Chu, adding that there are plans for product integrations between the two smart home companies. The sale, which Chu characterized as “more of a merger,” will provide Nanoleaf with significant resources, including a cash infusion that will, among other things, help the company grow its team at its Toronto headquarters. It will also bring access to the manufacturing facilities and supply chain of the Chinese company, which has a market cap of over $2 billion . “This will enable us to make things at a larger scale, with bigger purchasing power to bring down costs for our customers and have tighter control over the supply chain,” says Chu. Chu was reluctant to go into financial details, preferring to point to public filings . These show OneRobotics is paying about $40 million over two years to acquire Nanoleaf outright, and that Nanoleaf’s annual revenue is around $30 million, but it has operated at a net loss for the last two years. Chu says the decision to sell was not out of financial necessity but to help the company grow. “We weren’t in a position where we had to do this. …