Tewke is a London-based climate-tech company that manufactures “Tap,” an intelligent, retrofit touchscreen light switch designed to optimize home energy consumption, monitor air quality, and provide advanced automation without needing a neutral wire. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Tewke founder Piers Daniell to learn more.
Piers Daniell’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Daniell said:
“Being dyslexic, I never enjoyed classroom learning. I learn by doing. When I wanted to understand business, I started one. At fifteen, I launched my first IT consultancy. I loved creating something from scratch: finding customers, sending invoices and realising that once you’d started, you had to keep moving.”
“I skipped university, opting rather to gain real-world experience, and did so at Softcat. In the early 2000s, I founded Fluidata from my bedroom, which grew into a £30 million telecoms company recognised for its culture and innovation, and later became FluidOne, which I led until exiting in 2019.”
“Since then, I’ve focused on purpose-driven ventures: Bright Stars, a large children’s nursery supporting the local community; Jellymud, a sustainable clothing brand; Gutology, a health startup expanding internationally; and now, Tewke, where we’re using AI to transform home energy management. With every hat on, I’ve loved building teams and products that solve real problems, tapping into my passion for innovating to make an impact.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Daniell shared:
“A few years ago, my family and I moved into what we thought was our dream home. It included a cutting-edge home automation system, and at first, I thought it was amazing to control everything with one button. But reality quickly hit. One evening, my wife and I came home to find my in-laws sitting in the dark, reading by the light of their phone torches. They’d turned off the lights and couldn’t figure out how to turn them back on.”
“Usability wasn’t the only problem. Every time I wanted to tweak something, I had to call a £300 engineer. On top of that, our energy bills were through the roof. But then we made a simple change. We switched to a variable energy tariff and adjusted appliance use which cut our energy costs in half overnight. That’s when it clicked. Energy inefficiency and complex smart home systems aren’t just personal frustrations, they’re global problems, affecting millions of people.”
“Homes are stuck in the past, and our energy grid is struggling with rising costs, peak demand, and slow adoption of renewables. Smart home systems can be great, but they’re too often expensive and complicated. I wanted to build a solution that’s intuitive, affordable, and effective. That’s how Tewke was born: a system that lets you personalise your space exactly how you like it, is simple to install and use, and saves you money on energy bills… without the headaches or high costs of traditional smart systems.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Daniell reflected:
“Without a doubt seeing my children and wife interact with our intelligent light switch, Tap, in our home without giving it a second thought. Once the initial excitement subsided, the fact that they just use it and don’t even think about it gives me goosebumps. After so many years designing, refining and building, it is great to see my family using the product I have felt our home missed.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Daniell explained:
“Our core product is called Tap. It’s an intelligent light switch that serves as a hub for AI driven smart features. Tap has launched with three key features. Firstly, lighting control which enables users to program and enjoy multiple lighting scenes in each room where Tap is fitted. Then we have real-time energy cost tracking. We want to empower users to make efficient energy use choices that could save them considerable money on their energy bills. Paired with a variable energy Tariff, Tap helps to shift the use of energy heavy appliances, like the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer or EV charger, to much lower cost times of the day. Tap also houses sensors for home health monitoring. These sensors measure temperature, air quality and humidity, and in future will manage activities such as home security, media and thermostat control, all of which can be activated over-the-air. We are also excited to announce our first foray into voice-controlled personal assistance with TewkeAI powered by Google Gemini. This was announced at Slush 2025 and will come on stream in 2026.”
“What we have created with Tap is a new standard for home life: one that’s inclusive, supports wellbeing and works silently in the background to improve comfort, health and efficiency. I truly believe that smart living doesn’t need to be complex, so we are making smart simple.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Daniell acknowledged:
“We sit in the home automation and home energy space. While the home energy space is exciting, the home automation is quite frustrating. With so many different products addressing so many different perceived issues there is a lot of noise. NEST pulling out of Europe for thermostats for example is one big move that doesn’t give confidence to customers looking to invest in home automation. Our focus on over-the-air software updates and constantly improving the user experience is one that is certainly helping to reduce customers’ anxiety around smart home tech.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Daniell noted:
“We spent many years on hardware to ensure that what we ship today is still relevant in 15 years’ time. People don’t want to rewire their light switch every couple of years. So, the main evolution has come through our weekly software updates. The platform is getting more and more advanced with great features, such as full home health so you can monitor not only Co2 levels but also humidity and temperature in each room. That data can then be analysed in more detail on the app. It has shown us how much people love this kind of data, as it really helps them make good decisions within their home and demonstrates that Tewke is looking out for them.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Daniell cited:
“Getting our patents approved for the technology we developed was key. Our patented No Neutral technology overcomes the issue of a lack of a neutral cable, making Tap accessible for every home. This was a big challenge for the industry and why light switches have not really evolved like thermostats. Getting our light switch to work in any home, new or old regardless of how it is wired, was a major achievement.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Daniell highlighted:
“Yes. One of our customers had a very expensive home automation system fitted to their house. Fortunately, halfway through fitting it, they decided not to continue and completed the rest of the home with Tewke. The expensive system they had chosen required endless engineer visits and even had to have labels printed on the switches so that the customer would know what they did. They then had quotes of £800 plus to add in a few extra lights! Tap on the other hand was retrofitted in less than half a day, configured, and they have had zero issues since.”
“Adding to this, I have recently built the first castle in Britain for over a century, which has been our living testbed for Tap. I am installing 54 switches (all paid for!) throughout the site. Grand Designs featured us recently. It’s a truly monumental build. Despite the size of the development, we’re aiming for a building that is going to be one of the most highly performing environmentally friendly homes in the country with passive levels of air tightness, high levels of thermal insulation, batteries, solar tiles, vertical wind turbine, advance water harvesting, state change water heaters and triple glazed solar glass throughout. This will make the home low cost to run but also minimise impact and demonstrate to all homeowners and builders what is possible. Our Tap switches will sit right at the heart of that set up.”
Funding/Revenue
Are you able to discuss funding and/or revenue metrics? Daniell revealed:
“So, we have completed a funding round and we’re now working on fulfilling customer orders and scaling our own internal manufacturing capability. We are aiming to deploy about 5,000 switches in the UK before then looking to launch in the US and Middle East. There are great opportunities overseas and we have always developed our products with global appeal. Our financials are based on initial sales of Tap and then a subscription model for advanced software updates, which will provide premium features over and above the regular over-the-air updates every customer will get.”
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Daniell assessed:
“From a home automation and smart grid front, any house is a target opportunity for us, so 26 million homes or so in the UK. At the moment, our product is quite premium so doesn’t fit all home budgets, but we are quickly developing a more cost effective offering that can be upgraded effortlessly to the premium offering (without an electrician). This will help to get Tap into social houses where we see a great opportunity in helping landlords to create safe spaces for tenants but also to help tenants suffering from energy poverty to lower their energy bills.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Daniell affirmed:
“We don’t really have competition per se because we have designed a product that bridges the gap between the standard light switch and the more costly traditional smart lighting systems. Tap is also a lot more than just a smart light switch. It integrates multiple smart home functions into one, providing not only beautiful lighting, but also useful home data and supports homes to save money on their energy bills. Retrofit, Tap is as easy to install as a standard light switch, so it takes just minutes and means no interruption to the home, and it overcomes the issue of a lack of a neutral wire, making Tap accessible for every property. The other thing about Tap is that it’s modular, so can be adopted in stages. The over-the-air updates mean that users needn’t lift a finger or add hardware to enjoy new features and updates. Most importantly, Tap has an uncomplicated interface, making it intuitive to use for the whole family.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Daniell concluded:
“For too long, smart home technology has meant isolated devices, constant alerts and confusing apps. Tewke is on a mission to transform homes so that they can genuinely understand the way people live, anticipate needs, manage energy intuitively. and respond to the individuality of peoples’ behavior. Critically, Tewke represents simplicity and comfort, and with that in mind, automation is a key development in progress.”
“As alluded to previously, taking Tap across borders is a high priority. Tap is designed for global adoption, and we are primed to make key connections in the US and Middle East. The topic of energy efficiency is a global conversation. Addressing energy waste on a global scale would have monumental impact. With Tap, we hope to raise awareness of the small changes that could make a big difference, while delivering a product that everyone can fully appreciate, without feeling the burden of change.”
