Former Tesco exec joins smart home security startup Cocoon

Robin Terrell, former Chief Compliance Officer at Tesco, MD of both Amazon UK and John Lewis Direct, joins Cocoon as Chairman as the firm embarks on an equity crowdfunding campaign with CrowdCube. The campaign was launched on 1 February and currently stands at £1.68 million, so 67% of the £2.5 million target.

First launched on Indiegogo, Cocoon is smart home security company protecting the home from a single device using unique Subsound® technology. With over 700,000 UK homes affected by burglary each year, costing insurers +£1.4bn, Cocoon offers affordable protection for the 19 million homes currently not protected by home security systems in the UK.

Robin’s addition to the team will support Cocoon’s growth in retail and partnerships, further helping the team to achieve its mission to make protecting the home and people you love simple.

Following a commercial launch in the latter part of 2016, Cocoon has sold to customers in over 50 countries around the world.

Robin Terrell commented:

The great thing about Cocoon is that it’s not technology that’s just looking for a problem to solve. It solves a real world problem for customers, in a really innovative way. Throughout my career I’ve seen that putting customers at the heart of your business is critical to success and that’s exactly what Cocoon do.

When I met the team I was really impressed, they have a proven track record. I’m delighted to join them to help scale the business and get Cocoon on as many retailer’s shelves world wide as we can.

Sanjay Parekh, Cocoon’s CEO, commented:

Robin is a highly respected and successful businessman, bringing a formidable amount of expertise from leadership at brands such as Amazon and Tesco. We’re absolutely delighted to welcome him to our team as Chairman.

I have no doubt that Cocoon will greatly benefit from Robin’s knowledge, experience and belief in putting customers first in all we do. He’s joining us at a key moment, as we invite our customers to join our journey and invest in Cocoon on Crowdcube. This investment will enable us to expand our retail distribution and insurance partnerships, where Robin’s strategic contributions are already proving immensely valuable.

Seed investors, Aviva Ventures (Investment arm of the UK’s largest home insurer) and Breed Reply (hardware-focused IoT investment division of the Reply Group) are returning to support Cocoon’s fundraise on Crowdcube. The money raised will be used to scale the business – expanding sales channels, developing insurance partnerships, refining the manufacturing process and supporting the company’s growth.

Read Cocoon’s electronics design story here.