iControl locks in $23 million

Remote control system enables users to monitor the safety of their homes from iPhone and beyond

There seems to be an app for everything these days.  Want to remotely monitor and control your house?  “Well, there’s an app for that.”

iControl Networks develops one, and it just raised $23 million in Series C funding.
New investors on the round include Tyco International’s ADT Security Services, Cisco, Comcast Interactive Capital, and GE Security.  Return backers include Charles River Ventures, Intel Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) iFund.

Sorry, it’s actually not as simple as an iPhone app which you install and bam, you’re monitoring your house.  The Palo Alto-based company, which has raised a total of $45 million to date, has partnered with companies like GE Security, ADT Security Services, and Axis Communications to make traditional home security systems, connectable to the Web.  So the product isn't sold directly to consumers by iControl.  Instead, sold to partners so they can incorporate it into their own packages as an added feature for the iPhone or other Web enabled devices. 

Beyond viewing what in home cameras are monitoring remotely, a recent partnership between Black & Decker and iControl, allows users to actually check if they locked their doors from afar using their Web-enabled devices.  If the door was unintentionally left unlocked – users can load up their iControl application and lock it from wherever they are, as long as they are connected.

It seems the overall vision of iControl may be that, “a revolution in broadband home management is just beginning. iControl puts homeowners “in control” of their own security, energy and home health services,” as stated by Bruce Sachs of Charles River Ventures.

The now, five-year old company, plans to accelerate development and deployment of its technology.