Europe’s largest industrial manufacturing company, Siemens, has agreed to acquire the Silicon Valley Internet of Things (IoT) solutions start-up Enlighted. Financial details have not been disclosed and the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.

Founded by Premal Ashar and Tanuj Mohan, Enlighted have raised more than $80 million in funding since its establishment in 2009. This includes $45 million from two rounds of Series D financing in 2014 and 2016, when RockPort Capital and Tao Capital Partners led respective investment rounds.

“With Siemens as a global partner, we will both accelerate innovation and market adoption of our smart building technologies on an international scale,” said Joe Costello, Chairman and CEO of Enlighted Inc, who will no doubt see the deal with the German conglomerate as the next step in the evolution of his Silicon Valley firm’s to the global stage.

“Enlighted has a strong footprint in revolutionizing building intelligence by developing a multi-sensor-based IoT platform, using the power of data,” said Matthias Rebellius, CEO of Siemens Building Technologies. “With this move we are demonstrating our commitment to drive digitalization in the smart building industry.”

Enlighteds' platform consists of multi-function sensors, distributed computing, its own network and software applications. The critical element of Enlighted’s platform are its smart sensors, which securely stream data from around the building to the cloud. From data collected by these sensors, Enlighted’s platform can enable reduction in energy use, improved space utilization, better environmental management and greater asset utilization.

Through analysis and visualization, Enlighted has demonstrated its system’s ability to drive down operating costs and improve building for their occupants. Their sensors can be installed in light fixtures with the ability to collect data 65 times per second to detect environmental and occupancy changes then react in real-time with instructions to lighting and environmental control systems.

Using Enlighted’s smart lighting control application together with advanced LED fixtures, buildings have lower their lighting costs by up to 85%. Furthermore, the platform is able to locate people and assets within a building and analyze the occupancy of floors and rooms. By integrating with Siemens broad range of solutions, the Enlighted platform could also be used to optimize the energy efficiency of a building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

“The interaction between buildings and humans is crucial to increase productivity, energy efficiency and comfort in a building. From its inception, Enlighted has been focused on understanding how buildings can be made more efficient and the people who work in them more productive. Enlighted’s smart IoT platform with a digital sensory system applicable in any light fixture is a core element of revolutionizing building intelligence by enhancing the dialogue between humans and buildings,” yesterday’s press release from Siemens explained about the latest developments from the Silicon Valley firm.

It was just last week that Enlighted Launched its ‘5th Generation IoT Sensor’ for commercial real estate. Through a powerful 32-bit ARM processor and its expanded memory, the sensor has the compute power required to handle years of feature and security advancements through automatic remote software upgrades. This allows building owners to unlock new capabilities as IoT technology and use cases advance.

The sensor is also the first in the smart building industry to feature easy hardware upgradability in the field, meaning customers can remove and replace the sensor with a new one during the lighting fixture’s estimated 15 to 20 year life. The sensor’s small size enables it to be housed in a separate carrier sleeve, which allows toolless replacement without disturbing the light fixture or ceiling tiles.

“The worlds of technology and building infrastructures move at vastly different speeds and with differing requirements,” said Costello. “In order to bridge these differences, it is essential that smart building technology is not only easy to adopt by the building community but offers flexible upgrade paths that ensure longevity for the building occupants. We’ve created our 5th-generation sensor platform with unprecedented levels of power and upgradability to keep buildings brilliant even as the pace of IoT technology accelerates.”

The fact that this launch was made just 10 days ago, when the negotiations for the acquisition were likely complete or in very advanced stages, indicates that it will probably be business as usual for the Silicon Valley firm. Siemens has stated that Enlighted will be managed as an independent legal entity and wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens Industry, Inc.