Sleep technology is gaining big-name backers as the physical and neurological benefits of better sleep draws interest from employers, wellness-focused consumers and even professional sports teams.
Somnee, a neuroscience-based sleep tech company, picked up $10 million in a seed extension round as the company preps to launch the second generation of its sleep tech wearable device.
Khosla Ventures led the funding round, with participation from Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, LEAD VC, which was founded by the Adidas family, the NBA’s Orlando Magic ownership group (DeVos family), Seaside Ventures, Nelstone Ventures and Metalab, among others.
Somnee was launched in 2022 by sleep expert Matt Walker, Ph.D., and a group of scientists from the University of California (UC), Berkeley. The company designed an artificial-intelligence-powered headband that it claims can help people fall asleep faster and maintain higher quality sleep for longer. Somnee uses proprietary electroencephalogram (EEG+) and AI technology to map each user’s brain activity and deliver gentle, personalized stimulation that guides the brain into its natural sleep state, the company said.
The founding team includes two UC Berkeley professors of psychology and neuroscience—Robert Knight, M.D., chief medical officer and Rich Ivry, Ph.D., sleep scientist—and Ram Gurumoorthy, Ph.D., chief technology officer, who is also on the founding research team at StimScience.
The Somnee team spent decades pioneering sleep research, brain health, wearables and personalized noninvasive neurostimulation applications, according to the company.
The company, along with a new crop of startups, aims to modernize the $91.4 billion sleep aid market with technology, neuroscience and AI.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. reported not getting enough rest or sleep every day. Nearly 40% of adults report falling asleep during the day without meaning to at least once a month. Also, an estimated 50 million to 70 million Americans have chronic, or ongoing, sleep disorders.
The company plans to roll out the second generation of its smart sleep headband, featuring its proprietary SmartSleep AI operating system, which enables personalized brain mapping, real-time monitoring and AI-powered interventions throughout the sleep cycle. The product is currently in a beta pilot with select NBA teams and their performance training staffs.
In a published sleep study, Somnee helped users fall asleep twice as fast, stay asleep over 30 minutes longer and reduce tossing and turning by a third. It outperforms melatonin by four times, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia by two times and Ambien by one-and-a-half times. Its therapeutic modality is backed by clinical studies and covered by 24 patents.
“We began building this technology to explore a provocative question: could a sleep aid communicate in the same electrical dialect as the brain itself? That is, an ‘electroceutical,’ not a pharmaceutical,” Walker said in a statement. “We’re trying to speak to the brain in its own language—using gentle, precisely timed pulses of electricity, not unlike how a conductor uses subtle hand movements to guide an orchestra into harmony. The goal was to create what I call a ‘blast radius’ of benefit: deeper sleep, more efficient sleep, and a quicker descent into sleep itself by preparing the brain just before sleep, we’re trying to drive more powerful deep-sleep brain waves, and give you a faster entry into sleep to begin with.”
The startup was selected for the NBA’s 2025 Launchpad program, which supports the development of technologies that advance player health and performance. It also won best sleep technology awards and recognition from GQ Fitness Awards, Men’s Journal, the Digital Health Hub Foundation Awards and Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech.
Former Fitbit executive Tim Rosa joined the company as CEO 18 months ago and has led efforts to relocate manufacturing out of China and expand teams in Berkeley and India as well as enhance the company's next-generation hardware and proprietary SmartSleep AI operating system.
Somnee says it is exploring additional partnerships with professional sports organizations, employers and healthcare brands to build upon existing research linking sleep quality to athletic performance, employee productivity and human longevity.
Health insurance companies are recognizing the benefits of sleep care, increasingly covering tech-based diagnostics and digital health tools to improve sleep. Digital sleep clinic Dreem Health recently announced a partnership with Humana and has already inked partnerships with the country’s largest payers including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, HealthNet, UnitedHealthcare and Medicare.
“Sleep is the cheapest, most underused longevity drug we have. Few factors impact health more critically. Whereas others attempt to track sleep, Somnee’s uniquely non-invasive and drug-free approach tunes it every night with a headband as effortlessly as brushing your teeth. That’s why we backed them from day zero,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, in a statement.