South Korean electonics giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is poised to buy SmartThings, a Washington DC-based startup backed by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin that helps connect household devices.

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Once completed, this becomes one of Samsung's largest U.S.-startup acquisitions to date.

The South Korean electronics maker will then join fellow technology heavyweights Applice Inc and Google Inc in exploring ways to interconnect household gadgets with mobile apps, The trend is now commonly known as the "Internet of Things."

Samsung would not publicly disclose the financial part of the deal, but the TechCrunch  blog agreement 

Samsung did not disclose financials. But the TechCrunch blog reported in July that Samsung was willing to shell out more than $200 million for the two-year-old startup of 55 employees. SmartThings had just recently raised $15.5 million in venture capital from Greylock and a host of other investors.

SmartThings is owned by the Physical Graph Corp and began life as a crowdfunded Kickstarter project in 2012. Its technology lets people use a mobile app to control connected devices especially in the home.

The company says it has more than 5,000 developers building devices that connect to its open platform. In the arrangement with Samsung, SmartThings will continue to operate independently but move its base from Washington, D.C. to Palo Alto, California.

Having seen the potentially large market for mobile apps-home technology interconnectivity, many tech and telecommunications executives acknowledge that the market for "smart," or connected, home devices as poised to explode. Manufacturers are now rolling out Internet-connected burglar alarms, televisions and light switches.

But the current problem is that, across brands, many smart home products are often incompatible with each other.

Fortunately, the largest tech players are now teaming up with gadget makers to try and come up with common standards for the next generation of gadgets.

In June, Apple Inc announced its HomeKit technology, a framework that communicates with devices in the home. Apple is known for strictly controlling how other companies' products interact with its own.

Google's Nest has also partnered with companies including Whirlpool Corporation and light bulb maker LIFX to integrate their products with its thermostats and smoke detectors.

Samsung already makes Internet-connected refrigerators and washing machines, but has allied with Intel Corporation and Dell Inc to expand its home-automation by mobile apps capability. 

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