Quirky, a US based collaborative innovation startup known for focusing on connected devices is reported to be interested in buying General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s home appliance business. Discussing this in a program, Bloomberg’s Alex Barinka said that Quirky has always been interested in extending its product line and grab new customers from the home appliance industry.
“A lot of the things we have seen on Quirky are a better charging station, a, you know, a new air conditioner, this would give them kind of that baseline, a head start on creating these products, that the crowd funded people want to see, so when they want a better X, this home appliances unit might already make the baseline air conditioner and they can come in, soup it out, make the patents that already exist and come out with these things that the public really wants to see,” said Barinka.
Barinka also talked about the previous partnership between General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and Quirky, in which GE invested $30 million in Quirky and also granted Quirky access to thousands of its patents. Both the companies launched an Air Conditioning system called Aros, which was a huge success in the market.
Answering the question about how a five year old startup was able to a big deal with General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) on Aros, Barinka said that many private equity firms including Blackstone Group helped Quirky in this deal.
Barinka discussed the chances of Electrolux buying General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s home appliances domain and said that there is a competition between Quirky and Electrolux here. She said that any deal regarding General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s home appliance business will affect the overall market and many new companies will start making moves to acquire home appliance entities.
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