This Noida startup is making smart homes affordable to customers

Smart home solutions have made our lives easier. But these solutions are not always climate-conscious and are mostly unaffordable. 

Noida-based Aliste Technologies is providing smart home solutions for customers by combining climate consciousness with luxury.

The startup was founded by six collegemates from VIT Vellore--Anant Ohri, Konark Gautam, Aakarsh Nayyar, Udit Pandoh, Bhavya Kansal, and Shreyansh Jain, in 2021.

Aliste Technologies offers smart appliances such as motion sensing devices, smart gate solutions, security devices like CCTV cameras, and touch-enabled switchboards that can be controlled with a mobile application. Apart from controlling the appliances, its mobile application allows changing mood lighting, provides smart analytics, and more. 

So far, the startup claims to have completed around 2,500 residential and hospitality projects across 25 Tier-I and Tier-II cities across India. Some of its projects have been in collaboration with big names like House of Hiranandani, T&T Builders, Taj Hospitality, and more. 

Aliste has also collaborated with channel partners in the industry like YK Almoayyed & Sons to take its products to countries like the UAE and Bahrain. 

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How it started?

Aliste’s inception goes back to the founders’ college days. Anant says,

“Aliste was born out of our laziness to walk to the switchboard located in the corner of the room. This made us think about exploring the world of home automation solutions.”

Despite the market filled with multiple players in the home automation space, the team found that the penetration of home automation solutions in India was very less. It also realised that most of these solutions were adaptable only to newly-constructed buildings, and there was very little scope for old houses to fit these solutions. This prompted the team to develop affordable home solutions, which were adaptable for both old and new homes. 

With an initial investment of approximately Rs 20-25 lakh, the six friends established Aliste in 2021.

The product

Aliste’s smart home product line includes a five-switch Sync Model that costs between Rs 9,000 and Rs 10,000 per switch board. The price of individual products are priced in the range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 11,000 per product, while packages start from Rs 30,000. 

The team says it will cost around Rs 1.5 lakh for basic automation of a 3BHK home. This will include switch-based appliances like lights, fans, geysers, and remote operated appliances such as TV, ACs, thermostats, and home theaters. 

The bootstrapped startup has also developed a mobile app to control customers’ existing devices, which can be integrated with voice assistant devices like Alexa and Siri as well.

How is it different?

For Aliste, the primary focus is reducing the energy consumption through its smart appliances. Fitted with current sensors, the appliances record data of the energy consumption in a month. The team sends a notification when the energy consumption goes beyond a particular limit. It also prompts the user to reduce the consumption by a certain amount in exchange for free automation for two months as a reward.

“We believe that gamifying and incentivising conscious energy usage has long term benefits,” adds Anant.

Akarsh, who spearheads the research and development of Aliste’s home solutions, feels that having an in-house technical wing also gives the team an edge over other players.

“Many players in the market rely on other companies for the development, research, and assembly of products. However, we at Aliste do the research and assembly on our own. We just have one OEM partner to manufacture the parts of the devices. Keeping the tech within our hands has given us the flexibility and affordability to survive in this cut-throat market,” says Akarsh.

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Challenges

Finding its niche in a market filled with bigger players like Schneider, Phillips, Legrand, and TIS Control was one of the challenges the team faced. 

“We are a new entrant in the market and do not have experience like other players. But we are constantly building networks and learning,” says Anant.

To increase its foothold in major cities in the country, the team said it prioritises finding the right people who will relate to the vision and mission of the team. 

Shark Tank experience

Aliste appeared in one of the episodes of Shark Tank India held in April this year. Although the startup did not bag any funding from the Sharks, the team took home a great learning experience.

Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal offered Rs 60 lakh for 5 percent equity. However, the team declined the offer.

“We felt the offer was much lower than what we had expected. But the entire experience of getting shortlisted and pitching in front of the Sharks taught us a great deal. We took home their suggestions and went back to our whiteboard to make our brand better. We had not expected even in our wildest dreams to make it to the final stage of Shark Tank India,” recalls Anant.

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The market and plans ahead

According to Markets and Markets, the global home automation market is projected to grow from $40.8 billion in 2020 to $63.2 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1 percent.

Aliste has plans to raise funding in the near future. It also plans to shift from a Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) mode to Operation Expenses (OPEX) model, particularly a subscription-based model, to make automation more accessible.

The startup’s larger vision is to reduce electricity consumption in India and have a greener world.