Babies crying in their cribs is a common sight but they could become grumpy as they cry unattended. This is where a US-based startup Cradlewise is trying to make a difference with its smart crib. The smart crib from the company monitors the depth of sleep of the baby and automatically soothes the baby back to sleep. Also, it monitors for the fight signs of wakefulness to soothe babies on time.
In a recent development, the babytech startup Cradlewise secured a $7 million seed funding in a round led by a VC firm Footwork alongside participation from CRV and existing investors Better Capital and SOSV. Other notable investors include Katrina Lake, the Founder of Stitch Fix, Jeremy Cai, the CEO of Italic, and Dilip Goswani, the CTO of Molekule.
Cradlewise will use the funds to accelerate its innovation and technology roadmap. Also, it will grow its team by hiring seniors in operations, product, and marketing sectors.
The brainchild of a couple
Founded by Radhika Patil and Bharath Patil in 2018, Cradlewise makes smart crib sets different from other baby monitors out there. The founders came up with the idea when they had their first baby. Every time the baby twitched, they had to run over and rock her. This made them think of a solution that will watch over the baby 24/7 and monitor signs of waking.
As they did not find such a smart crib in the market, they built one. The smart crib from this company learns as the twitches and rocks itself to make the baby fall asleep. While they built a prototype of Cradlewise back in 2014, the idea was revived fully in 2019.
Uses AI and deep tech
Cradlewise smart crib makes use of AI and deep learning the sleep patterns of babies and adapts them to the changing requirements. It is a crib, monitor and bassinet, an all-in-one solution that will suit babies from birth to 24 months. The crib with a sleep monitor spots the initial signs of waking of the baby and rocks itself automatically to play soothing music and not disturb its sleep.
How does it work?
The smart crib from Cradlewise senses early waking in babies in three phases: quiet, active, and cry. In the quiet phase, the baby is still but awake and is in its environment. In the active phase, the baby is moving actively and attentive to sounds and sights. Finally, in the cry phase, the baby moves a lot and cries loudly and does not respond to sounds and motion easily.
Commercially available in 2022
Priced at $1999, the Cradlewise smart crib might be highly expensive but it makes sense given that it is a premium product that replaces many other products that parents might want to buy. It focuses on sustainability by reducing plastics and using easy-to-recycle materials. Also, the mattress is made of natural rubber latex and coconut coir, which makes it completely biodegradable. Currently, Cradlewise ships the smart crib to anywhere in the US directly via its website. The company plans to expand its availability through other e-commerce websites in 2022.
