Summary: Somnee, co-founded by neuroscientist Matt Walker, raised a $10 million seed extension to launch its second-generation AI-driven sleep headband, while touting data that it speeds sleep onset and deepens rest through noninvasive brain stimulation.
Key takeaways:
- The next-gen Somnee uses EEG and AI to personalize brain stimulation aimed at enhancing deep sleep, and is in early trials with NBA teams.
- A study found users fell asleep twice as fast and slept over 30 minutes longer.
- Somnee markets itself as delivering non-drug “electroceutical” sleep improvement by directly influencing brain electrical activity.
- CEO Tim Rosa has moved manufacturing out of China, expanded in Berkeley and India, and is pursuing partnerships in sports, hospitality, and corporate wellness.
Somnee, the company launched in 2022 by neuroscientist-sleep influencer Matt Walker, PhD, and other scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, has raised $10 million in a seed extension round.
The new funds will support Somnee as it prepares to launch the second generation of its smart sleep headband, featuring its proprietary SmartSleep AI operating system, which enables personalized brain mapping, real-time monitoring, and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered interventions throughout the sleep cycle. The second-generation product is currently in a beta pilot with select NBA teams and their performance training staff.
The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, LEAD VC (founded by the Adidas family), the NBA’s Orlando Magic ownership group (DeVos family), Seaside Ventures, Nelstone Ventures, and Metalab, among others.
Somnee uses proprietary electroencephalogram and AI technology to map each user’s brain activity and deliver stimulation that guides the brain into its natural sleep state. In a published study, Somnee helped users fall asleep twice as fast, stay asleep over 30 minutes longer, and reduce tossing and turning by a third.
“Enhanced sleep can radically improve happiness, energy, and purpose. As such, Somnee isn’t just a health product: it’s a tool for better leadership, deeper compassion, and smarter decisions,” says Marc Benioff, founder of TIME Ventures and Chair, founder & CEO of Salesforce, in a release. “It’s been a critical element of my sleep hygiene since they launched, and I was a customer long before Tim reached out to invest in their pioneering tech.”
“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 noninvasive 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 release.
Since joining 18 months ago, CEO Tim Rosa has led efforts to relocate manufacturing out of China and expand teams in Berkeley and India, enhance the company’s next-generation hardware and proprietary SmartSleep AI operating system, and forged partnerships with Equinox Hotels and the NBA. Somnee is exploring additional partnerships with professional sports organizations, employers, and healthcare brands to build upon research linking sleep quality to athletic performance, employee productivity, and human longevity.
“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 says in a release. “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 brainwaves, and give you a faster entry into sleep to begin with.”
