Husqvarna Group acquires smart garden specialist Koubachi

Effective July 15, 2015, Husqvarna Group acquired Zurich, Switzerland-based Koubachi AG, a pioneer and leader in the area of smart gardening. The acquisition brings extensive experience and competence from Internet of Things and home automation technology within gardening and plant care, strengthening the Gardena Division’s positions in this field substantially.

Koubachi’s competence team, including its founder Dr. Philipp Bolliger, will join the Gardena Division. Koubachi’s office in Zurich will be continued to be used as an innovation and development site for Gardena.

Koubachi – the Internet of Things in gardening – has emerged from scientific work at ETH Zurich. The current product portfolio mainly consists of a cloud-based plant care system that includes sensors and mobile apps, along with an extensive plant library and unique algorithms, to make plant care better and easier.

“The acquisition will increase and accelerate the value of Gardena’s own smart garden concept, which will be launched starting in 2016,” said Sascha Menges, president, Gardena Division, Husqvarna Group. “This concept connects automatic watering and robotic lawn mowing in a unique way, and is managed by a smart phone application. Joining forces with the Koubachi team will consolidate our leadership position within gardening.”