Leafi Home wants to reimagine the future of sunlight control for connected homes and buildings.
The Vancouver-born smart-home startup, set to pitch at the entrepreneurship@UBC Investor Showcase in May, is developing window treatment technology that will help with the passive heating and cooling of homes and offices.
Leafi blinds will include mobile app and voice control, as well as scheduling, remote functionality, and smart home integration.
“Never worry about forgetting to close your blinds,” the company says. “Wi-fi connectivity built-in allows you to control your blinds from any distance without an additional hub.”
A home dashboard shows the status of all connected blinds, while family sharing allows control for multiple users.
“To get up in the morning with early sunlight, you can set window blinds to open as soon as the sun rises,” the company says, citing the “health benefits of waking up with natural light.”
Leafi was founded in 2019 by Will Wang, CEO, and Michelle Li, COO.
The key differentiator for Wang and Li is that Leafi blinds can be retrofitted onto certain existing blinds, reducing a major point of friction for potential sales.
Their early research found that most houses and buildings already have blinds, and due to cost and complexity, do not want to completely replace their window treatments anytime soon. That’s a tough position for smart blind makers to be in.
“We are designing our first product to be a retrofit product that can be used to make your blinds smart,” the company explains. “By doing so, we hope to help households modernize their existing blinds with the latest in automation and other smart features.”
Wang and Li expect to launch the Leafi blinds “soon.” For now, there is a pre-launch list offering updates.
Leafi is ready-to-raise and knows consumers are interested in the tech.
“88% of [survey] respondents were interested in smart home features like controlling their devices using mobile phone apps, voice control, or automated scheduling,” Leafi noted. “We know there are interest and demand for these features, and that households are looking for ways to make their lives easier using smart home devices.”
Designed to feature later-stage ventures that are fundraising, the annual Investor Showcase highlights startups leading their industries, demonstrating progress being made through research and innovation.
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