Sleep on it? The clocks turned back on Sunday, so maybe you caught some extra Zzz… (I know I did). However, many people continue to struggle with getting a healthy amount of sleep on a daily basis. Such news is concerning, considering the effects of poor sleep on your day to day living, even significantly […]
The clocks turned back on Sunday, so maybe you caught some extra Zzz… (I know I did). However, many people continue to struggle with getting a healthy amount of sleep on a daily basis. Such news is concerning, considering the effects of poor sleep on your day to day living, even significantly impacting your walking! Startups are known for helping us solve our day to day issues innovatively, and they’ve come to the rescue.
What Is SleepTech?
There is actually a term for this industry, you guessed it – sleeptech! The current ‘sleeptech’ market was projected to be $12.5 billion in 2020. Sleeptech contains wearables, SaaS/ digital tools or monitoring devices to mention a few. Although it may seem odd at first to have a dedicated industry to better sleep, considering we spend half our lives’ doing it, it may seem weirder why we aren’t investing and creating more in this space!
Who’s Making Moves In SleepTech?
SleepCogni has recently made headlines by raising a whooping £1.4 million, and is looking to break into the US market. Their website states that instead of medication or sleep monitoring, SleepCogni uses a device and SaaS to help users.
Your snore won’t be a bore with Smart Nora’s anti-snore pillow – which they state has been scientifically validated. This Toronto based startup has even been mentioned in a Forbes article!
This is what dreams are made of (well, technically on): Moona provides pillows with cooling technology. So no more mid-sleep, pillow-flipping nuisance-causing again! This French startup is close to getting a total of $1 million in funding too.
Lastly, we’ve got Lumos for all the jet setters or troubled sleepers. This startup creates an eye mask which uses biosensors, and transmits undetectable pulses of light which makes waking up easier. No more profanities directed at your alarm clock now.
Concluding Thoughts
Innovation in this sector is paramount. We invest so much in our food, clothing and lifestyles – maybe it’s time to invest in what we do the most. Or, at least, what we wished we did the most.
Here at Work In Startups, we’re on a mission to champion the best and most exciting startups in the UK. To support this, we’re starting a new blog series highlighting some of the most innovative and fast-growing startups around. Follow us as we interview startup founders and employees across the country and find out more […]
Here at Work In Startups, we’re on a mission to champion the best and most exciting startups in the UK. To support this, we’re starting a new blog series highlighting some of the most innovative and fast-growing startups around. Follow us as we interview startup founders and employees across the country and find out more about their goals and ambitions, what the future holds and (for all you startup jobseekers out there looking for the inside scoop) what they look for in a prospective employee.
This week we are talking to Rachel Dada the found of Black Talent Space, a platform for black creatives to showcase their work and connect with likeminded individuals.
Tell
us about Black Talent Space! How did it all start and what are your goals?
So
I started Black Talent Space this summer at a really difficult time for a few
different reasons; the COVID-19 pandemic left people struggling to cope, the
murder of George Floyd left people with no choice but to protest for the
protection of Black lives as his death was yet another example that Black lives
clearly don’t matter to a lot of people. His killing, and the murders of others
including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many more, also left people
reliving their own trauma and brought about the resurgence of the Black lives
Matter movement. This summer new “allies” were born. We’ve seen friends, family
and organisations commit to educating themselves on systemic racism and racial
justice. For a lot of organisations this was the first time they’ve had to take
a hard look at themselves, acknowledge the disparities that exist in society
and come up with ways they can contribute to long term radical change.
Black
Talent Space is a platform for Black creatives to showcase their talent,
collaborate and build a supportive community. Our goals are to amplify Black
voices, provide a space where people can fully showcase their work and create
meaningful connections with one another – three things many platforms struggle
to promote! Black Talent Space will have membership options for organisations,
businesses and Black talent.
What
are your values as an ambitious startup?
At
Black Talent Space we have a passion for racial and social justice, equity and
equality. Our job is to empower – we are passionate about making it easier for
Black creatives to connect, collaborate and be free from barriers. We strive to
create a safe space where people can publicly or privately speak on topics that
often don’t get spoken about or are censored on other platforms for no
legitimate reason. We are also big on collaboration and will be including
features that will allow users to easily work together.
Rachel Dada
With
your current knowledge and what you’ve learnt so far, is there any advice you
would give yourself back when you were just getting started?
I
am still quite new to all of this but I would tell myself to slow down a little
bit and give myself time to enjoy the ideation process. It can be stressful
starting a business and coming up with ideas but it is also quite an enjoyable
experience. Don’t be afraid to give yourself a pat on the back for the things
you achieve whether big or small. I should add that I have also learned that
this is something that should be done throughout not just at the beginning.
Never stop being proud of yourself!
The
pandemic has obviously affected a lot of startups both in positive and negative
ways, how have you guys dealt with it?
I
think things are a little different for Black Talent Space having started
during the pandemic and being very new, we haven’t had to face many of issues
that other startups have had to deal with. I have been able to have insightful
conversations and make meaningful connections through Zoom and virtual
conferences. It is so important to keep learning new things so it has been
great to be able to benefit from attending virtual programmes and accessing
educational content to help Black Talent Space grow. I do hope to be able to
meet all the new connections I have made during the pandemic, when it is safe
to do so of course!
What
is next for Black Talent Space and what are the goals for 2021?
Our next step is actually building the Black Talent Space platform! We are currently working with web developers to bring the idea to life. We are also looking for a CTO to lead on all aspects of tech development. In order to build a successful platform, we believe it is important to hear from potential users to help us create something useful – we don’t want to build something solely based on our own assumptions. We have created a survey to help with this process and will also be setting up interviews in the new year. I am really excited to get things going and can’t wait to share the Black Talent Space platform with you all.
About this blog
News, Articles and Interviews from Work In Startups