Owlet Baby Care, the Provo, Utah-based maker of the Smart Sock baby monitor, raised an additional $7m in funding.
Of the $7 million, $6m were from the company’s Series A funding round led by Formation 8, with participation from Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes, out of his new fund Carpe Diem VC, and Owlet’s previous investors Azimuth Ventures, ffvc, Eniac Ventures and Peak Capital.
The company, which is also receiving another $1m for participating in a government National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, intends to use the funds for the public launch of its product this fall after two years of development and safety testing.
Led by CEO Kurt Workman and and Jordan Monroe, Owlet is to launch the Owlet Smart Sock, a smart baby monitor tracking an infant’s vital signs, including heart rate and oxygen levels, with the same technology used in hospitals—pulse oximetry—to alert parents if a baby stops breathing.
The information from the monitor is relayed to parents’ smartphones, allowing parents to check on their child from anywhere.
The company is currently ramping up to make its Smart Sock available to the public, planned for this fall. The product is currently only available to early supporters and new supporters in limited production.
FinSMEs
18/08/2015