More than CHF 2m · Other round · Hardware · St. Gallen, Switzerland
St. Gallen-based smarli. has raised more than CHF 2m in its second financing round to expand its network of electricians, installers and energy providers and continue developing its own software and hardware. Existing and new investors participated, while Robert Sigrist joined as a new investor and board member, according to Swiss startup reporting.
The company builds a manufacturer-independent system for homes, offices and larger properties. Its software connects lighting, blinds, heating, solar panels, charging points and security devices through one interface, using existing electrical infrastructure so it can serve both new construction and retrofits. smarli. says its platform supports more than 3,000 manufacturers and over 10,000 products.
Turning installers into a distribution network
smarli.’s route to market runs through the tradespeople who already specify and install building systems. Its Partner Engine gives electricians and other installation partners tools to plan a project, add rooms and components, commission devices and generate a customer dashboard. That turns local installers into a sales and delivery channel rather than requiring smarli. to manage every project directly.
The model addresses a practical barrier in smart homes: devices from different brands are difficult to combine, while proprietary systems can make retrofits expensive or lock customers into one ecosystem. A common configuration layer can make a broader set of devices usable without replacing a building’s wiring. The commercial leverage comes from partners repeating that process across projects, but it depends on the software being simple enough for installers to use reliably with limited training.
The new capital therefore funds both sides of the model. Expanding partner acquisition and support can widen distribution, while smarli.’s own hardware components are intended to make installations more robust and easier to commission. The trade-off is greater operational complexity: the company must support a wide integration surface while carrying the development and supply-chain demands of hardware.
Founded in St. Gallen in 2023 by Martin Stamm and Thomas Obrecht, smarli. says it has completed more than 150 smart-home projects and quadrupled its customer base. Those are company-reported figures, but they indicate the next milestone is not proving that individual homes can be connected. It is showing that independent partners can deploy the system repeatedly as the network grows.
