Expectations rise for expansion of a smart IoT co-living business with enhanced security and convenience
A strategic investment to expand IoT-based smart co-living solutions
Aqara Life (CEO Kim Hyun-chul) announced that it has made a strategic investment in the domestic proptech company ‘Homes Company’ (CEO Lee Tae-hyun) and is pursuing a full-scale business partnership.
Homes Company owns ‘Homes Studio,’ Korea’s first and most representative shared-housing brand. Through this investment and business partnership, Aqara Life plans to strengthen its smart solution business for shared-housing facilities and, together with Homes Company, to grow into an ‘AIoT space solution’ brand that spans the global market. Homes Company was founded in 2015 under the motto of presenting a variety of spaces where ‘more people can enjoy a better life in a better home.’ Starting in 2017 with ‘Homes Studio,’ Korea’s first enterprise-type co-living brand, the company expanded its business scope from investment and development to operations and brokerage services, growing into a comprehensive real estate company with a range of brands including Homes Stay, Co-Village, Welcome Homes, and Mr. Homes. In 2023, it secured 300 billion won in blind-fund resources from ICG, a leading UK real estate infrastructure fund, and is actively expanding its business.
Through this investment, Aqara Life plans to integrate smart IoT solutions into ‘Homes Studio’ and ‘Homes Stay,’ a hotel-style form of shared housing. By introducing a variety of IoT devices and platforms—led by Aqara Life’s smart door locks—into the spaces newly built by Homes Company, the partnership is expected to maximize customer convenience and improve operational efficiency.
In particular, at a time when single-person households are growing and interest in and preference for shared living spaces are rising, there are high expectations for the collaboration with ‘Homes Studio,’ Homes Company’s co-living brand for single-person households. Shared living spaces are drawing considerable interest from single-person households thanks to their many advantages, including comfortable spaces and amenities, the option of monthly-basis residency, and enhanced deposit security through corporate operation. According to Statistics Korea, single-person households in Korea numbered 7.5 million (34.5%) out of a total of 21.77 million in 2022, accounting for the largest share, and are expected to continue growing.
Amid the continued expansion of the co-living market alongside the increase in single-person households, Aqara Life plans to provide AIoT devices and solutions that enhance the value of these co-living spaces and maximize the user experience, while at the same time improving the efficiency of operators. In addition, as the share of single-person households is expected to expand from the current 20s–40s age group to seniors, effective synergy is also anticipated in the ‘urban senior co-living’ that Homes Company is preparing. Aqara Life also plans to drive the full-scale spread of AIoT interiors through ‘Mr. Homes,’ Homes Company’s specialized real estate brokerage brand. Mr. Homes is Korea’s largest enterprise-type real estate franchise, with about 130 franchise stores nationwide. When buyers or tenants wish, Mr. Homes plans to connect them with Aqara’s interior partners to provide smart-home interiors at the very front line of real estate.
Meanwhile, Aqara Life is a joint venture established in Korea in 2019 together with Aqara, the world’s No. 1 IoT specialist company. It is Korea’s only AIoT specialist company that exclusively supplies high-quality IoT devices and provides integrated services down to consumer-tailored platforms. Beyond building smart spaces such as smart homes and smart offices, it is working to broaden the reach of IoT across various fields including security, silver care, and healthcare.
▲ Aqara Life–Homes Company investment agreement and business partnership ceremony for expanding the co-living housing market and the IoT ecosystem