SOND, a sleep tech startup from Bose’s former head of sleep, exits stealth with $7M

['Traditionally, sleep earbuds have been designed to mask outside noise and promote sleep with calming sounds. But today, a Boston-based startup called SOND is introducing a new type of earbuds designed to actively intervene to encourage better sleep. Founded by a pair of MIT grads, one who is Bose’s former Head of Global Sleep, SOND emerged from stealth on Wednesday with $7 million in funding.', 'The company introduced its debut product: Dreambuds, a closed-loop, in-ear system that captures 12 physiological signals from the wearer, then acts on them in real-time to help consumers get better sleep.

Its initial investment of the $7 million comes from E14 Fund (an MIT-affiliated fund), Crosslink Capital, Ubiquity Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Meach Cove Capital, and Boston Scientific co-founder, John Abele.', 'To work, the device tracks signals like respiration, heart rate variability, cardiorespiratory coupling, sleep staging, body position, snoring, and seismocardiography (SCG, or the mechanical vibrations of the chest wall produced by the beating heart). This sensor data streams in real-time to a cloud-based AI sleep coach that then selects a sleep audio program, or generates one on demand, learning over time which ones work best for the individual user.', 'Users can also interact with the AI sleep coach directly by speaking, asking for sleep insights, or for specific sleep programs from SOND’s proprietary library of over 500 audio programs. The AI coach can also generate audio, like a sleep story with a certain theme, when asked.

SOND was co-founded and is led by CEO Yadid Ayzenberg, who previously worked at Bose as its Head of Sleep Products, where he launched Bose’s Sleepbuds 2 and ran the company’s portfolio of other sleep products.', "The goal is to stop users from needing to pick up their phone to control the sleep tech’s system. 'We have a running joke — we say giving an insomniac a phone is like running an AA meeting in a liquor store,' Ayzenberg says, with a laugh. 'The idea here is that all you do is take the buds out and they’ll resume your sleep plan.' The sleep coach can help with particular sleep problems by referring to its data about what’s worked for you in the past.", 'SOND has run a couple of comfort studies and betas, and now aims to bring the devices into mass production by Q2 2026, following a crowdfunding campaign to raise additional funds.

The company is currently accepting reservations on its website.']