Smart Door Lock Surge: $50M Investment Fuels the Next Big Thing in Smart Home
The single round financing record of smart door locks appears: Another trillion-level market is about to be born.
According to the “2020-2026 China Smart Lock Industry Market Analysis and Investment Feasibility Report” published by Zhongjin Enterprise Information International Consulting, the smart lock industry in Chinese households has entered an explosive period in recent years. Looking at market trends, the next few years will be a period of incremental market for smart locks, with a huge growth space.
This year, another trillion-level market is about to enter an explosive period.
With the continuous advancement of technology and declining production costs, an increasing number of consumers are opting for smart door locks over traditional mechanical ones—opening up a new wave of opportunity in the smart home sector.
Recently, the smart lock brand “Kaadas” (hereinafter referred to as: Kaadas) has completed a nearly $100 million B round strategic financing, which is the highest single round financing record in the smart lock industry to date.
According to the “2020-2026 China Smart Lock Industry Market Analysis and Investment Feasibility Report” published by Zhongjin Enterprise Information International Consulting, the smart lock industry in Chinese households has entered an explosive period in recent years. Looking at market trends, the next few years will be a period of incremental market for smart locks, with a huge growth space.
This round of financing is led by Lancy Asia Investment Group, followed by Tongchuang Venture Capital and Qianhai Interstellar Investment, marking the beginning of a new round of investment boom in the smart lock industry.
In the eyes of investors, this industry has become a hot potato. Smart home is hailed as the most important scene economy for future family life consumption, and smart door locks, as an indispensable part of the smart home field, have attracted the focus of the capital market, heating up the concept of smart home.
Under the investment boom, how can the smart door lock industry seize the development opportunity? What challenges will it face in the future? As a leading sample in the smart door lock industry, Kaidi’s development trajectory brings more insights to the entire industry.
1The smart door lock industry is experiencing an outbreak
In recent years, with the advancement of smart door lock technology, the increased awareness of family safety, and the continuous emergence of spillover effects from apartment locks, the smart door lock market has finally experienced an outbreak.
The development of smart locks has become a highly competitive track under the promotion of the Internet, and the first industry reshuffle began within just three or four years. After the great selection, smart lock companies without technical strength have gradually been eliminated by stronger competitors, and the industry has entered a period of healthy development.
The entry threshold for the smart lock industry is actually very high. A smart lock integrates more than 20 disciplines including materials, chips, biometrics, optics, and wireless IoT. That is to say, a brand’s research and development team must have technical research personnel from more than 20 disciplines, and each discipline’s research personnel are indispensable. Especially, the more secure lock control products brought by technical advantages require a stronger demand for research and development.
As an industry benchmark, Kaidi has established three major research and development centers with a team of hundreds of researchers, and has nearly 200 technical patents. It can independently develop all types of automatic lock bodies. This also proves that in the increasingly competitive smart lock industry, having a technical advantage is the only way to confidently face the market.
Kaidi has also gained consumer recognition due to its high-quality products. The K7 released that year soared in sales due to its quality, and the company’s revenue reached 330 million yuan, more than twice that of 2016. At that time, there were very few smart lock companies on the market with a revenue of over 100 million yuan.
Kaidi has such research and development capabilities and quality advantages, which is due to its predecessor being a mechanical lock manufacturer. Su Zhiyong, the founder and president of Kaidi, has been engaged in the lock industry since 1986 and has extensive industry experience. Public information shows that Su Zhiyong sold 20 million sets of mechanical locks in a single year in 2004, and began to transform into the research and development of smart locks and smart security products in 2007.
With the continuous advancement of production technology, the production cost of smart locks is also continuously decreasing, and the price of smart locks is increasingly accepted by more and more consumers, which will further promote the market development of smart door locks.
According to the 2020 Double 11 sales data released by Tmall, the customer group with a price range of 1010-2825 yuan accounts for 51.72%. This means that there is strong demand for consumption between 1000 yuan and 3000 yuan, which also indicates that users who have 渗透 from traditional mechanical locks are more willing to try smart door locks with lower prices.
The fact is that the potential market for replacing traditional mechanical locks with smart locks is significant, even possibly exceeding the demand for smart locks required for new housing construction. Currently, the penetration rate of smart locks in China is still relatively low, so there is considerable room for growth in the smart lock market in the future.
According to analysis, an increasing number of families are listing smart locks as a standard feature in home renovations, which is becoming a trend. In the coming years, smart locks will see an increase in the market, and they are expected to become the next trillion-level market.
Capital market focuses on smart locks
Smart locks are currently in a period of rapid development and will become the most promising investment field in the smart home industry.
Under the impetus of capital, the smart lock market has emerged with many players. In addition to professional smart lock brands such as Kaidi, Deshiman, and Yale, traditional electrical appliance manufacturers like Samsung, Haier, and Midea have also entered the field.
Moreover, Internet companies such as Alibaba, Xiaomi, Lenovo, and 360 have also started to invest and lay out in the smart door lock market, with smart door locks regarded as one of the important entry points for future IoT layout.
The smart door lock industry has attracted the focus of the capital market. Compared to smartphones, smart door locks are undoubtedly a blue ocean market. From 2014 to 2018, there have been 45 financing data, with 14 smart door lock companies obtaining financing in 2018 alone, reaching an all-time high. However, from the perspective of the capital market, the industry’s investment is still biased towards the early stage.
The emergence of the highest single-round financing in the industry has undoubtedly ignited a booster for the entire industry.
Kaidi, a rising smart lock brand endorsed by renowned actress Liu Tao, has recently completed its Series B funding round, raising nearly $100 million. The round was led by Lancy Asia Investment Group, with strong participation from Tongchuang Ventures and Hengqin Mutual Prosperity, signaling growing investor confidence in the smart home sector.
According to public data, Lancy Asia is an established investment group with a strategic focus on China and the broader Asia-Pacific region. As one of the earliest international private equity funds to enter the Chinese market, it currently manages assets exceeding $6 billion. The firm specializes in high-growth sectors such as internet, consumer goods, education, and healthcare, and has successfully supported more than 50 companies in going public.
Lancy Asia has built a strong track record through investments in market-leading companies like Ctrip, AutoHome, and DeepinServ, solidifying its reputation as a bellwether within the investment community. Its move into the smart lock industry marks a significant milestone—one that is expected to serve as a benchmark and catalyst for broader capital participation in the evolving smart home space. With its deep experience and strategic foresight, Lancy Asia’s involvement lends both credibility and momentum to this emerging industry.
Lancy Asia Managing Partner Lee Ki-bae is highly optimistic about this investment. He stated, ‘The experience of smart entry door locks replacing traditional locks is truly revolutionary. As a key segment in the consumer upgrade of smart homes, the domestic penetration rate still has significant room for growth compared to more mature overseas markets.
Another Li Jikepi believes that KaiDiSi is the only intelligent door lock enterprise in China that has an integrated industrial chain from product definition, independent research and development, manufacturing, whole-channel sales to brand operation. The founder, Mr. Su Zhiyong, has been deeply involved in the lock industry for over 30 years. He is very optimistic about the further increase of KaiDiSi’s market share in the domestic market.
Tongchong Weiye, another participating investor, is a well-known investment institution managing over RMB 20 billion. It has invested in nearly 500 companies and has supported 90 of them in going public or passing regulatory reviews, making it a leader in the domestic market. Another co-investor, Qianhai Huxing, has previously made successful investments in prominent enterprises such as Pagoda, Qfang.com, Youjie Life, Ruichuang Weina, and TT Voice..
With the support of these star investment institutions, it not only proves the development potential of the intelligent door lock industry but also means that the investment target companies will have more low-cost means to raise sufficient funds for business development, innovation, and expansion. For this industry that requires a large amount of research and development, brand investment, and channel construction, capital is an important resource.
What will the intelligent door lock industry look like in the future?
Although smart door locks will maintain double-digit growth in the future, the industry also faces many challenges for long-term development. For example, what direction will the future of smart door locks take?
Security remains the most concerned pain point for consumers today. After technological iteration, the security of smart door locks has become higher and higher, but with the continuous change of life application scenarios, new security needs are constantly emerging.
For example, during the pandemic, fingerprint recognition smart door locks encountered significant problems due to the demand for epidemic prevention and control. Users tend to prefer contactless functions, which has made smart door locks with video capabilities leap to the first-tier products. It is a consensus in the industry that enterprises can only have stronger competitiveness by adapting to user needs.
Keadyis smart door lock, as a leader in the industry, has great reference value in its development trajectory. It itself has strong research and development capabilities and has always stood at the forefront of technology. The newly launched K20-V visible cat’s eye smart lock has amazed the entire market with its leading technologies such as remote video calling, doorbell snapshot real-time communication, WiFi long connection low power consumption technology, and loitering alarm, and powerful functions.
Industry experts point out that for smart lock companies to achieve long-term growth, they must strengthen their industrial chains and build a closed-loop smart home ecosystem. Only by doing so can they expand profit margins and remain competitive in the evolving market. In this regard, Kaidi demonstrates strong foresight, having already established a comprehensive layout across key sectors such as smart locks, smart security, intelligent access control, and the broader smart home industry.
The importance of service for smart locks is also increasing. Now, smart locks do not worry about sales volume, but the installation and after-sales service after the product is sold are the biggest challenges for the brand.
Because of the offline channels built by Kaidi, these offline agents can naturally become service providers. The dual drive of Kaidi’s product power and brand power also motivates agents to provide high-quality after-sales service, providing sufficient guarantee for subsequent offline market competition. In addition, Kaidi is also the first brand in the industry to propose a “three-year warranty” service.
As technology continues to advance, the smart lock sector is rapidly maturing. The advent of the 5G era, coupled with the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, has become a powerful catalyst for this transformation. These technological breakthroughs are propelling the entire smart home ecosystem forward, meeting the surging demand from users and unlocking a market worth tens of billions. The increasing attention from capital markets further underscores that the smart lock industry has entered a phase of accelerated activation—its potential for future expansion is vast and full of promise.
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