15 minutes instead of eight hours

Smart home configuration has been very time-consuming up to now, but a Passau-based start-up now wants to change that. Business customers in particular should benefit from Pionize's offer.

It's not quite as fast as in the movie series "Back to the Future". Otherwise, flying cars would have been around since at least 2015. The screenwriters' predictions regarding networked homes were much more precise. What seemed futuristic in the film "Minority Report" almost 20 years ago has long since become reality, such as entertainment systems controlled by voice recognition. However, what none of these films showed - for good reason, because it would be terribly boring - is the immense effort involved in installing a smart home system. In a study, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits came to the conclusion that at least eight hours of training are required before the fridge, light switch and TV can communicate with each other and the respective controller without any problems.

This is a major obstacle on the way to the technology's breakthrough. Four students from the small university town of Passau recognized this and founded Pionize last year. Initially, they were thinking of a solution for end consumers, but now they are fully focused on business customers. The whitelable configurator solution from the Bavarians has been on the market since today.

"We are thinking primarily of real estate companies or electronics retailers"

Maximilian Hauke, head of Pionize

"With our configurator, it only takes 15 minutes to put together a smart home," says founder Maximilian Hauke. He launched the company in 2019 with his partners Alexander Lerach, Tymofii Melnyk and Mirabror Mirzokhidov. The reason for the immense time savings: Pionize relieves customers of the work of combining products from different providers.

The current priority is the white label solution, which other companies can integrate into their offering. "We are thinking primarily of real estate companies or electronics retailers," says Hauke. If an apartment is sold or rented out, for example, the company can offer buyers the option of booking the corresponding smart home functions directly. The company itself then pays Pionize.

At Pionize, they rely on an algorithm that helps customers to put together the right system for them. This is based on just seven questions. Users can then order all products via Pionize, and ultimately control them via the Pionize app. "Currently, companies like Philips, Nuki and Osram specialize in their own areas. Unfortunately, the rule is that an extra app is usually required to control the brand," says Hauke. Closed systems are also available to buy, but there is a lack of choice when it comes to individual components.

End consumers won't see the product any time soon

Hauke does not want to reveal how the interfaces with the individual providers work, as this is a trade secret. He only says this much: "All brands are compatible with us, so we unite them all on our platform." The company earns money through commissions for referring customers to dealers, as well as for providing the Smart Control function, i.e. the control system.

But as good as this idea sounds, end consumers are unlikely to get their hands on it any time soon. Instead, Pionize has made a classic pivot in the course of development, from B2C to B2B business. "We simply realized that the end customer market is very competitive," says Hauke. The founders therefore initially saw greater opportunities in the business customer market.

The founders financed the start-up largely out of their own pockets, with additional support from the Bavarian State Ministry. Pionize is fully financed until August. "In the long term, however, we are still looking for a strategic partner," says founder Hauke. The company is currently in talks with potential investors; the money is to flow into both the technology and the staff, which currently only consists of the founders and four interns.