PiOctave Solutions bets big on smart home security

When Kiran Nayak’s friend was away on vacation, there was a burglary at his posh apartment, though there were security guards. His friend was informed about it only the next day. An idea of home security solutions struck Nayak at that time, and he started working towards secure home. Along with his co-founders, he started PiOctave Solutions in November 2015.

Prior to this startup, Nayak had successful stints in Cisco, ARM & Sarnoff Corporation.

Since its inception, the Bengaluru-based startup has been working on different products, and now it is all set to launch its first product — Sure Bell.

“Sure Bell, a revolutionary security solution, uses smart sensors, optics and intelligent software to ensure that one is alerted of any activity around one’s door, round the clock. It also allows one to visually communicate with strangers, even when one is away from home,” says Co-founder and Director of PiOctave Solutions Kiran Nayak.

While the testing phase will be until July, the product will be launched soon in Bengaluru. Talking more about the product, another co-founder and director Niteesh Kumar says, “You need Wi-Fi connection for this, and if there are any motion near your door (it has got 180 degree panoramic view), notifications will be sent to you and your family members. One can also make a call, talk to the person who is near your door.”

According to IHS, which provides deep market insight in technology sectors, in 2014, there were 245 million professionally installed video surveillance cameras active and operational globally. If we wanted to monitor this network in real-time in-person, it would require employing more than 735 (eight-hours shift) million people for the task — much more than total workforce in India. Out of these millions of cameras, less than 5% are monitored by a human at any given time.

“With our smart cameras embedded with machine learning, we help in acting on this real-time video data equivalent to having a 735 million-strong staff of security personnel operating around the clock,” says Kumar.

He adds that Sure Bell comes with cloud and local storage.

“We are planning to include more features like the level of alert — either normal or dangerous, and so on,” says Kumar.

The 21-member team has designed and developed hardware for both Bell and Chime, a complete video stack. It has raised an undisclosed sum from Parasmani Ventures.

Starting in Bengaluru, PiOctave is looking at expansion across the country by the end of this year.
The startup sees a huge market in home security solutions. “We are also trying to get into the B2B space by tying up with builders. Our target is to sell 10,000 units by the end of December and 50,000 units by the end of June 2018,” says Kumar.

While a CCTV can cost around Rs 35,000 to Rs 45,000 depending on the number of cameras and size of the house, Kumar says Sure Bell is affordable and costs between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000.