VCs Haven鈥檛 Tired Of Sleep Startups

Sleeping may not seem like one of our more productive pursuits. But in reality, people who sleep well tend to be happier, more successful at school and work, and more likely to have fulfilling social lives.

Those are the takeaways from this year鈥檚 of American adults, which found that people with poor sleep health are 4x more likely to be unhappy. That鈥檚 a troubling result considering the survey also found that more than half of adults don鈥檛 get enough sleep.

It鈥檚 a societal issue not lost on startups or their backers. Over the past couple years, investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into an array of companies working on treatments for sleep-related ailments and technology to help improve sleep quality.

To illustrate, we used 小蓝视频色情网页版 to curate a sample list of 20 companies with a sleep-related mission funded in the past couple years. The largest rounds have gone to startups focused on sleep quality monitoring, sleep apnea therapeutics and diagnostic tools.

A wellness thing

Much of the investment we鈥檝e seen in recent quarters has gone to startups in the broader wellness space. This isn鈥檛 a shocker as wellness has long been a largish sector for venture capital, and everyone knows it鈥檚 hard to feel fit and healthy if you don鈥檛 sleep well.

, maker of the popular wearable rings that record and analyze biometric data, is the largest investment recipient in this area. It鈥檚 raised $348 million in equity funding to date, including a $200 million November Series D.

The Finland-based unicorn cites sleep as one its major focus areas. Wearers can use their rings to track sleep stages and blood oxygen saturation levels overnight, resulting in a 鈥淪leep Score鈥� that tells how well they slept.

, based in Mumbai, has raised $43 million to date for a product lineup that includes mattresses providing orthopedic support and air circulation for a cooler night鈥檚 sleep.

And , based in Boston, has raised over $16 million to date for a wrist wearable that provides cooling or warming sensations to alleviate temperature fluctuations, such as hot flashes, that can disrupt snoozing or waking hours.

Sleep apnea

The other big funding theme is around sleep apnea, the breathing ailment that researchers may affect nearly 1 billion people worldwide.

On this front, picked up a big round just this month, securing $80 million in a Series A led by and . The Silicon Valley- and Switzerland-based startup is developing a nasal spray aimed at treating obstructive sleep apnea.

Last summer, , based in Union City, California, secured a $45 million Series Bfor a somewhat different approach. The startup, which appears to be working somewhat stealthily, is focused on neuromodulation therapy for sleep apnea. Meanwhile another Silicon Valley company, , has raised at least $29.5 million to develop a neurostimulation system to treat apnea patients.

Apnea represents both a major health problem and a rather large market. By next year, global spending on sleep apnea therapeutics and diagnostics is projected to exceed $7 billion, , with sizable annual growth expected in subsequent years.

A slumbering giant of a sector, with a mixed track record

Given how much time we spend sleeping, and how crucial it is to overall well-being, it鈥檚 easy to take the standpoint that this is an area where VCs would be well-advised to pursue promising investments.

However, having followed sleep-related startup investments over a number of years, it鈥檚 also clear to me that startups in this space frequently haven鈥檛 delivered hoped-for outcomes. Mattress brands such as and , for instance, were once hot startups. But they didn鈥檛 perform well on public markets, with Purple shares now trading for under $1 and Casper seeing its share price decline before selling to a private equity acquirer a few years ago.

Another startup, , which makes a smart bed cover with features like automatic temperature adjustment, raised over $160 million from venture investors. However, it hasn鈥檛 reported a closed round since 2021.

The current crop of startups, of course, still looks quite promising in investors鈥� eyes. And certainly the problem they鈥檙e targeting 鈥� our collective deficit of sufficient, high-quality sleep 鈥� isn鈥檛 going away.

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