This Sequoia-Backed Startup Uses AI to Help You Sleep Better
Last week, at its first-ever media conference in India, Sequoia-backed Indian startup Wakefit announced its intention to improve sleep health and quality for Indian consumers, this time using AI. Regul8 is one of the flagship products of the company’s recently launched Wakefit Zense, the country’s first AI-powered sleep solutions suite. It is India’s first mattress temperature controller, which allows users to manually set the temperature between 15°C and 40°C or choose from presets like neutral, cold, warm, ice, and even fire. The icing on the cake: It also supports dual preferences, so individuals can customise their sides of the bed independently, eliminating the common household dispute over the AC remote. On an average, a home air conditioner in India can use about 3,000 watts of electricity an hour in India. However, thanks to Wakefit’s recently launched Regul8, the sleep controller mattress, you don’t need an AC anymore. Most importantly, it is 60% more energy-efficient than a 1.5-ton air conditioner. The other flagship product is an AI-powered contactless sleep-tracking device called Track8. Explaining the technology behind Track8, Yash Dayal, the CTO of Wakefit, told AIM,  “The tracker works by placing a passive sensor below the mattress, and as a person sleeps, it leverages ballistocardiography. This means that tiny vibrations from heartbeats, snoring, or any movement are read by our sensor. “These raw signals are then processed through AI and ML models to derive sleep metrics, restfulness, and other body vitals.” Integrating both Track8 and Regul8 can create a system where temperature regulation is based on how you sleep. According to Dayal, the products, including AI and ML models, were made by the in-house team consisting of about 80 to 100 tech experts. Discussing the broader AI strategy, Dayal said, “We don’t rely on generative AI models for these consumer products, but we are experimenting with models like those from OpenAI and Gemini internally for efficient supply chain management, demand planning, and forecasting.” What about Data Privacy? “Users have the option to choose whether to share their data or not. Their data is used solely to provide insights on sleep quality, such as heart rate variability, respiratory rate, movement index, and snoring index. It is anonymised, encrypted, and used only to improve their sleep quality,” said the director and co-founder Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, in an exclusive interview with AIM. Making High-Quality Products Affordable for All Founded in 2015, Wakefit’s philosophy is rooted in making high-quality products affordable for middle-class consumers. Led by co-founders Ankit Garg and Ramalingegowda, Wakefit has created a foundation for itself by building coming-of-age products like orthopaedic mattresses and dual comfort solutions, but at affordable prices. “Ankit and I come from middle-class backgrounds, so we understand the constraints of operating on a budget. From the beginning, our philosophy has been to make high-quality products affordable. For example, why should an orthopaedic memory foam mattress cost INR 50,000 when it can cost INR 12,000?” said Ramalingegowda. This principle extends to their latest tech-enabled sleep solutions, which are designed to offer cutting-edge technology at a fraction of the cost of similar products in the US and Europe. “The core idea was to leverage this success in non-tech products by applying material sciences, to create something uniquely beneficial for sleep,” added Ramalingegowda. “In markets like the US and Europe, similar products cost around INR 4.5 lakh. We built our product from the ground up to make it available for INR 45,000 to 50,000. We are middle-class folks building for middle-class India,” explained Ramalingegowda. For example, high-end sleep technology brands like Eight Sleep offer smart mattresses with advanced sleep tracking and temperature control features, at around INR 2.8 lakh for the Pod 3 model. Similarly, Sleep Number provides adjustable mattresses with integrated sleep tracking and temperature regulation, often exceeding INR 3 lakh. Chili Technology and Bryte also offer premium sleep solutions with advanced features, with prices reaching up to approximately INR 3.75 lakh. By offering its products at a mere fraction of that price, Wakefit positions itself as a cost-effective alternative to these luxury competitors, making sleep technology more accessible to the middle-class Indian market. This strategic pricing is an effort to bridge the gap between affordability and high-quality sleep solutions. Future Prospects Looking ahead, Wakefit plans to integrate generative AI and work with voice-based ecosystems to provide more actionable insights rather than passive data reporting. “Over the next two years, we will steadily launch new features and products, adding more value to our customers,” concluded Ramalingegowda. Wakefit’s commitment to innovation and accessibility positions it as a leader in the sleep technology market in India. With the launch of Wakefit Zense, the company is set to revamp how Indians experience sleep, making AI-powered sleep solutions an integral part of everyday life.
Besides consumer products, Wakefit is experimenting with models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini to improve supply chain management, demand planning, and forecasting.
Besides consumer products, Wakefit is experimenting with models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini to improve supply chain management, demand planning, and forecasting.
["Generative AI"]
["Go", "OpenAI", "AI", "innovation", "ML", "RAG", "Aim", "ViT", "generative AI", "Generative AI", "R"]
["AI", "ML", "generative AI", "OpenAI", "Aim", "RAG", "R", "Go", "ViT", "innovation"]
Shritama (she/her) is a technology journalist at AIM who is passionate to explore generative AI with a special focus on big techs, database, healthcare, DE&amp;I, hiring in tech and more.