An obsession with extending the duration of their lifespan has helped inspire a 25-year-old and his father to create a sleep tech mattress cover startup.
Orion, a company that just raised US$17.5 million in seed funding, will be competing with the more renowned bed tech operator Eight Sleep for nighttime temperature regulation supremacy.
The sleep technology developer has made a sensor-activated mattress cover that utilizes artificial intelligence to provide the sleeper with an optimal balance of cooling and heating tuned to their body. It accomplishes this through the use of small water tubing within the mattress cover.
The device also has sleep data collection capabilities and has been crafted to help optimize REM and deep sleep.
“Orion is redefining sleep by combining in-bed sensing with active thermoregulation,” said Chief Technical Officer Jonathan Zwiebel.
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Orion also claims that its night tech can achieve lower cooling temperatures, higher peak heating, uses 47 per cent less floor space and has lower financing options with higher approval rates. Financing costs a minimum of US$65 per month.
“Orion cools as low as 50°F and heats up to 115°F, getting colder and warmer than Eight Sleep,” the company has explained. “This is ideal for hot sleepers.”
Nonetheless, Eight Sleep’s Pod apparatus currently has the advantage of being much more extensively studied with clinically proven results derived from more than 50 studies. Eight Sleep’s app is also much more advanced, with Apple Watch and Oura integration. Furthermore, Eight Sleep has already built a reputation as a game-changing sleep product for many users and is equipped with a built-in sound system.
The Gestetners and friends now have a team of 15 engineers working with them at Orion. They will begin shipping the product out to its first paying customers by the end of the year.
Youngster Harry Gestetner was recognized as one of the “25 most inspiring people aged 30 and under in the UK” by British Media outlet The Times last year. He is also known for founding the highly successful Gen-Z-tailored content creation platform Fanfix in 2020, which later sold for US$65 million.
Image credit: Orion
Read more: AWS outage leaves Eight Sleep Pod users sweaty and confused
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