Innovation intelligence brief
Innovation intelligence brief
The virtual roommate who protects your home while you are away! Simple. Safe. Living.
What became of it
Completed · Medium confidence · Last verified 2026-10-17
As catalogued
'Kevin', a smart device co-developed with Helvetia's corporate incubator that simulates occupancy with lights and household sounds to deter burglars, positioned as insurer-backed loss prevention.
2026 reality
Mitipi AG sells KEVIN.3 (one-off purchase or monthly subscription including the device) with a companion app, operates entities in Switzerland (Fribourg), Germany (Berlin) and the US (Santa Clara), and is listed on the marketplace of French property manager Foncia. The website does not mention Helvetia.
The developers took over the company in February 2018 (per startupticker headline); a partnership with a Helvetia subsidiary followed in 2019. Mitipi has since developed further device generations, expanded to the US (2023), added investors (December 2024) and raised crowdinvesting (2025-2026).
the separation from Helvetia turned an insurer prevention pilot into a consumer-electronics security business whose link to insurance is now indirect.
a rare surviving insurer-incubated prevention device; distinctive as a privacy-friendly deterrent without cameras, but now mainly a consumer security product.
Third taxonomy
REVIEW · Verified current offer, entities and partners on mitipi.com and the 2018 takeover and 2024 investor news via startupticker headlines; added 2019 Helvetia-subsidiary partnership, 2023 US expansion and 2025-26 crowdinvesting milestones. Nature of the 2018 takeover remains unconfirmed.
Documented evidence
Homepage
Homepage
Research interpretation
Classification paths, as catalogued, connect this example to the original insurance digitalization research models.