Josh.ai announces $11M funding round

As many of you know, I worked at Sonos for close to a decade, during that time I got really into the smart home space and all the amazing systems for automating and operating things in your home. I know people that have connected systems that knows what kind of music they like on a certain day of the week, and when they like to take a hot tub, and adjusts both, on queue just at the right time.

For a long time connected systems like this meant shelling out six-figures and buying hardware from companies like Crestron or AMX. Now, as AI continues to eat the world, and smart home devices are plentiful in the sub-$200 range, startups are starting to lower the barrier-to-entry into the advanced smart home space.

Josh.ai is one company that is innovating like crazy in the smart home space and seeing the fruits of their labor pay off. Today the company announced an $11M funding round bringing their total funding to-date to $22M. So what does Josh.ai actually do, here’s the skinny:

Josh is a home’s best friend. And like a dog, Josh is intelligent,  responsive, and learns his owner’s commands. While other smart home  control systems only know one trick, Josh combines all aspects of smart  homes into one friendly, well-trained responder. Josh is your companion,  and always happy to see you come home.             (Source – Josh.ai)

What this means is Josh can control just about every smart device in your home, and using AI, learn how you like to use your devices and then do really cool things for you. Of course Josh.ai is also supposed to be one of the best NLP (Natural Language Processing) solutions for the home which means you’ll be able to issue more interesting and complex commands than you can with general purpose solutions like Siri.

Of course, I also can’t help but notice that they’re branding on a .AI domain. In this case, I’m not sure the company will ever go after the .COM. The .AI feels like a critical part of the name and Josh.ai might actually be their best name. While in so many cases I think people should buy their matching .COM once their business takes off, Josh.com might not really convey the same brand meaning as Josh.ai, and JoshAI.com just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

No matter how you slice it, Josh.ai is kicking ass and taking names, and with all of us spending a lot more time inside, you might have Josh in your home before you know it. Congrats to Alex and team, big week and exciting opportunities ahead!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton