VentureBeat

IControl, a company that lets you control home security sensors and other appliances from your phone or internet-connected computer, is building some momentum.

The startup recently inked a deal with VOXCOM, a provider of home video-monitoring services, and today, it announced a bit of a coup: IControl raised $15.5 million from top venture firm Kleiner Perkins, with the firm’s leading partner, John Doerr, joining iControl’s board. Previous investors Intel and Charles River Ventures also participated in the round. We first covered the company, which focuses on residential and small commercial establishments, in early 2005, after it raised a $1 million angel round, so it has come a long way.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based iControl is positioning itself as a white-label solution that telecommunications companies and others can integrate into larger offerings to homeowners. As competitor 4HomeMedia told me recently, the market opportunity here is that many communications and security service providers are seeing dips in revenue as competition among them increases. They’re all looking for add-on subscription services — like what iControl and 4HomeMedia offer — that can get customers paying them more every month.

What’s more, iControl’s focus on home security may be especially timely, considering the home foreclosures happening in suburbs around the country. Other companies, like 4HomeMedia, focus not just on home security but on other services like health monitoring for elderly relatives, and ways for you to do things like turn your lights on and off while you’re out of the house. Generally speaking, iControl also offers these services — but it is making a point of branding itself as being about security: It calls its service “Home Security 2.0.”

Take a look at this demo video on its site (not embeddable). While the company makes a point of being affordable, the demo clearly brands the services as something wealthy homeowners would want — people who tend to have large homes in the suburbs.

There’s a strong correlation between poverty and crime in any population. The escalating number foreclosures on homes in the suburbs means that crime rates in these areas are increasing (check out this fascinating Atlantic article for more on that; or, this Reuters story). So, there’s also an increasing market opportunity for using home technology to guard against crime, and iControl is well-positioned to meet that problem.

4HomeMedia, a Sunnyvale start-up, is the latest company wanting to let people control every electronic gadget and system in their home remotely.

It is an elusive business, because some companies have tried it, and most have failed.

4HomeMedia apparently thinks it has better chances. It will demonstrate its home-controlling technology at the CES conference next week. It said its product, the ControlPoint, has won the “Best of Innovations” award in the Integrated Home Systems category for this year’s CES, besting more than one hundred applicants.

There is nothing at the company’s Web site, and VentureBeat hasn’t talked with the just-launched company. But its statements and other reports say its server can create a controlling interface remotely via mobile phone, PC, Mac, TV or gaming system. So you can call in with your phone and order your DVR to record a show, for example. The service, to launch Jan. 8, will cost less than $200. A box plugs into a broadband router that creates a wireless network.

London’s Pond Ventures invested $2.85 million last year.

Various efforts have failed in the past. At least two other companies are trying something similar. iControl, which launched at DEMO two years ago, seeks to give users control over the home via a web-based system, though we’re not certain how well it has done. Intel invested, but hedged its bet by investing in another home control system, Zensys. Palo Alto’s iControl gives you mounted cameras and motion sensors for things like doors and windows, giving a “big brother” reputation. It raised $5 million in a first round of funding from Intel and Charles River Ventures. Menlo Park’s Zensys, like 4HomeMedia, appears to give more attention to controlling electronics devices and appliances. The company has raised at least $41 million, including from Cisco and Bessemer.