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Startup Stories
Summarise your business in one sentence:
A local, open-source hardware and software company building smart home and environmental sensors that prioritise privacy, performance, and community-driven innovation.
Introduce your startup:
Apollo Automation designs and manufactures smart IoT sensors for home automation, including motion, air quality, and plant health monitoring devices. Our sensors are open-source, fully local (no cloud required), and integrate seamlessly with platforms like Home Assistant and Homey. We aim to make reliable, privacy-respecting smart home technology accessible to everyone while keeping production and innovation rooted in the USA.
What was your inspiration for founding the company?
We started Apollo out of frustration with the lack of high-quality, transparent, and locally made sensors on the market. What began as a weekend hobby project quickly gained traction in the open-source community. After seeing the response, we decided to take the leap full time and build a company focused on doing things differently.
Tell us about your business’s journey so far. What have been the biggest challenges and biggest successes?
Apollo began in a small workshop in Kentucky in 2023 and has since grown into a full-fledged operation with multiple product lines and a global customer base. Our biggest challenge has been scaling manufacturing while staying local and transparent. Our biggest success has been building a passionate community of users and contributors who genuinely care about our mission and help shape our products.
What does the future hold for your business? Where do you see the company a year from now?
We’re continuing to grow our product lineup and expand into commercial and industrial sensing. In a year, we see Apollo Automation as a recognised name in privacy-first smart sensors and a trusted partner for integrators and builders looking for flexible and local alternatives to cloud-dependent solutions.
What are you most looking forward to about exhibiting at Broadband Communities Summit?
We’re excited to connect with others who are building the future of connected spaces. We look forward to sharing what we’ve built, learning from other innovators, and exploring opportunities to bring our sensors into broader commercial and residential use cases.
HQ location: Versailles, Kentucky, USA
Number of employees: 6 (4 full-time, 2 part-time)
Funding situation: Bootstrapped
URL: https://apolloautomation.com
Founders: Justin Bunton, Trevor Schirmer
LinkedIn Address: https://www.linkedin.com/company/102172757