SmartThings wants to make ordinary objects smart by connecting them to the Internet

Startup: SmartThings

CEO: Alex Hawkinson

Date Launched: January 2012

Funding: $3 million from First Round Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, CrunchFund, Max Levchin, David Tisch, Chris Dixon, Vivi Nevo, Alexis Ohanian; $1.2 million from Kickstarter users

What it is: Ambitious. SmartThings wants to connect everyday objects — from ovens to thermostats — to the Internet and make them smarter.

Why we like it: Imagine a storm causing the power in your house to go out while you're out of town, and getting a notification on your smart phone. Or a woman in your household forgetting to unplug a hair straightener, and being notified before a fire starts.

SmartThings is building a hub that acts like a bridge between everyday objects and a platform in cloud. It provides things like motion detectors and moisture sensors you can place around your house. Every SmartThings sensor and hub-connected object is also connected to a mobile app, where you can monitor your objects.

"Once you connect everyday objects to the Internet, you can control them, but the bigger change is you can control them with software that any developer can write,” Hawkinson told AllThingsD.

Here's more on how it works: