Stellar Sleep, a provider of a digital solution for chronic insomnia management, announced a $6 million seed funding round to enhance and broaden the reach and capacity of its mobile app designed to help users overcome insomnia.
The funding round was led by Initialized Capital with participation from Y Combinator, Lombardstreet Ventures, Switch Ventures, Moonfire Ventures, Scrum Ventures, 8vdx, and Goodwater.
The investments also will allow for more comprehensive content and personalization of the user experience.
“No one values sleep as much as those who can’t get it. The treatment options are so limited that these founders got trained as sleep therapists to treat themselves,” says Parul Singh, partner at Initialized Capital, in a release. “Stellar Sleep is tech-enabled cognitive behavioral therapy, true tech enablement of patient care that will make a meaningful impact on the millions of people who suffer from sleep disorders worldwide.”
Stellar Sleep was created when both co-founders (George Wang and Edrei Chua) personally experienced insomnia for years and struggled to get care. Guidelines by physician organizations indicate that the best way to manage chronic insomnia is sleep therapy. This type of approach addresses the root cause of insomnia and helps the patient re-learn how to sleep well again.
“What we found as we tried to get treatment for ourselves was that sleep clinicians are in such short supply—waiting lists of 6-12 months are common—that access to psychology-based care is a significant obstacle for the average person,” says Wang in a release. “In addition to the waiting list, the cost and time commitment involved meant that out-of-pocket sleep therapy was out of reach for most. We founded Stellar Sleep with the goal of providing broad access to insomnia care via an app, a solution to a widespread public health problem that was previously unavailable to many.”
Photo caption: Stellar Sleep mobile app
Photo credit: Stellar Sleep
