Australian IoT vendor Buddy Platform is set to acquire Melbourne-born smart lighting vendor LIFX for US$51 million (A$70.4 million), adding smart lighting to Buddy’s energy monitoring product Ohm.

LIFX manufactures wi-fi enabled, multi-coloured smart lighting solutions for homes and offices, whose retail partners include JB Hi-Fi, Bunnings, Officeworks, Amazon and Apple.

As part of the deal, Buddy will absorb all of LIFX’s staff, with chief executive Tim Peters and chief product and technology officer Marc Alexander continuing to lead the business. Alexander will also join Buddy’s board of directors.

“This is a transformational transaction that we’re announcing today,” Buddy chief executive David McLauchlan said.

“As the demand from both commercial and retail customers for energy monitoring solutions increases, it makes perfect sense that we look to combine our Buddy Ohm platform with a product that can be found in every building and every space in the world - lighting.”

Buddy said the acquisition will be “highly accretive” for both companies, where LIFX-connected lighting products can become energy and sensing sources for Buddy Ohm and enable a residential Ohm offering in the future. The company also said bundling the two can open up the commercial market for LIFX.

The deal is set to finalise in March upon completion of the financing and following a shareholder vote.

“We are very excited to join forces with Buddy to expand our customer base, further our reach, introduce real-time energy monitoring from our lights and enter new and exciting markets,” Peters said.

“Together with Buddy, we look forward to soon sharing with investors our vision and what we have planned in 2019 and beyond.”