Meet the startup transforming the smart home industry.
Imagine you’ve been out of town for a few days, only to come home and find your basement is flooded or that your house has been broken into. But wouldn’t it be ideal if you could be notified instantly, the moment something went wrong instead of finding out days later? Meet OVAL, the all-in-one smart sensor system that can make any object or area instantly smarter by monitoring and alerting you to changes in motion, humidity, temperature, light, and water. OVAL is a five-in-one total awareness tool that will provide you and your loved ones with improved security, protection, and peace of mind.
Meet Michael Harry, Cofounder & CEO of OVAL
An experienced entrepreneur, Michael Harry spent the past 20 years running a production company that he founded, making commercials, documentaries, music videos, and films. He was approached one day by an acquaintance about an idea for a multifunction sensor that parents could put on the inside of their medicine cabinet to alert them whenever it was opened, effectively preventing young children or teenagers from getting to the contents of the cabinet — specifically prescription drugs. Michael quickly realized the potential this new sensor had for helping people everywhere and dove right into his new role at the young startup.
A couple of years later, having been involved in all aspects of the company from prototyping to marketing, Michael took over as CEO of OVAL and built out an entirely new, global team that he’s extremely excited about. Michael and his co-founders: Pranay Mathur (Chief Technology Officer), Lannie Moore, (Executive Vice President), and Eric Pelz, (Chief Legal Officer) are confident that their global team of engineers, programmers, partners and mentors are going to take OVAL to new heights.
OVAL: How It Works
While there are many smart home sensors in the marketplace, OVAL’s unique competitive advantage arises from being an all-in-one sensor that is battery powered and doesn’t need to be fixed to a certain location in the home. Most of OVAL’s competitors in the marketplace only monitor one or, if you’re lucky, two conditions. As such, if you want to detect water, temperature, and motion, you’d potentially have to purchase three different sensors and possibly use three separate apps — with OVAL, you can monitor and detect changes in 5 different conditions around your home or business with a single sensor through a single app. Additionally, many existing products in the market require integration, installation and/or hard-wiring into the home, such as with your thermostat, doorbell or doorknob. With OVAL, these challenges simply do not exist. Rather, you can create a practical, customized, and flexible smart home that works for you in minutes.
The OVAL team is currently in the process of manufacturing OVAL 2.0, which is the second generation of their flagship smart sensor system. Launching in mid-2019, OVAL 2.0 will have a number of new features and improvements including a wireless hub, 6-month sensor battery life (3x longer than the original OVAL), a revamped, more user friendly and intuitive app design including new features such as on demand, in-app analytics, and finally, compatibility with both today’s popular voice-activated smart speakers, like Amazon Echo and Google Home, and IFTTT-enabled smart home products.
The OVAL team believes that no two homes are alike. It is with this guiding principle that the OVAL team has focused on developing and improving their multi-function smart sensor system to meet a wide variety of most people’s most common needs, while also recognizing that what an OVAL smart sensor system can do is still very personal for each user.
While many customers may use an OVAL sensor in their basements to detect flooding, others also apply the sensor to windows or doors to protect against intruders or to make sure young children don’t run out the back door. Still other OVAL customers use their sensors for comfort or to give them peace of mind by placing OVAL sensors in the homes of their aging parents or in the rooms of sleeping babies to monitor their environment. One specific OVAL customer has an entirely different use for the sensor — he has one in his mailbox to be notified when the mail arrives.
Once a triggering event is detected, OVAL allows up to 13 people to be notified via the app through a variety of options — push, text, email and/or phone calls — so family, friends, neighbors or co-workers can help address any issues as they arise.
OVAL: Product with a Purpose
To Michael and his team, OVAL is more than just a product — it truly saves lives. Michael’s favorite customer testimonial is the story of one OVAL customer who had setup 3 OVAL sensors around the home of his elderly father, who lived alone. A few months after setting up the OVAL sensors, the son received a notification about a significant drop in temperature at his father’s home. The son called the house, and no one answered. Knowing something had happened after receiving OVAL’s instant notification, the son immediately got in touch with a nurse who found his father unresponsive on the ground. It turns out that the father had accidentally bumped into his thermostat, sending the temperature down to a dangerously low level in the home. Thankfully, the nurse was able to bring him back to good health. It’s stories like these that motivate Michael and his team on a daily basis and encourage them that they’ve built something truly exceptional that can improve anyone’s life.
What’s Next
The next several months look very exciting and busy for the OVAL team as they launch the OVAL 2.0 smart sensor system in 2019 and begin to accelerate their distribution efforts. Currently, the OVAL team is in talks with several large distributors around the world that will bring them significant global brand awareness in the smart home space. OVAL is also building multiple partnerships and pilot programs with insurance companies, property managers, and elderly living facilities. In applications beyond the home, OVAL is looking into diverse verticals including indoor farming, the food/beverage industry, and student housing to help improve safety, increase comfort, and prevent and reduce damage.
With its sleek, mobile design the OVAL sensor fits seamlessly into any home. The OVAL team believes the future of smart homes is mobile, customizable, and puts the user in control. The OVAL 2.0 smart sensor system does just that.
Sign up at www.meetoval.com and connect with OVAL on social to be notified when preorders open.
Written by Anjali Agarwal, Junior Associate at Quake Capital
