South Korean sleep tech startup Asleep will be sporting its AI sleep assistant technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest IT trade show hosted by the Consumer Technology Association in Las Vegas in January as a part of Amazon’s Alexa team for the first time for a Korean startup.

“We will be joining the CES 2022 as the first Korean startup invited by Amazon’s Alexa team. All 25 employees will visit Las Vegas to showcase our technology,” said Asleep CEO Lee Dong-heon.

Founded in June last year by a group of graduates from prestigious Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Asleep has developed a contactless sleep tracking analysis tool using IoT solutions and wireless internet in collaboration with Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. Its solution boasts superior accuracy in analyzing sleep patterns and quality than existing contact-type smart watches or even world-class sleep analysis companies, according to the startup.

Asleep’s AI sleep assistant robot Sleepbot diagnoses sleep by analyzing in-sleep sound and movements through contactless signals. “Through more than 30,000 hours of clinical data, Asleep achieved about 70 percent accuracy rate, which is higher than overseas rivals including Fitbit showing 50-60 percent accuracy,” Lee explained.

Although less than two-year-old, Asleep has been approached by a number of local major companies like LG Electronics, Kakao, Koway and Samsung Life Insurance for employment of its advanced technology and is currently working to partner with Amazon to integrate its technology into the e-commerce giant’s artificial intelligence speaker Alexa.

Asleep raised initial investment from Kakao’s investment arm Kakao Ventures and Intervest and is expected to draw more than 10 billion won ($8.5 million) in investment in the first half of next year. It also plans to launch a smartphone application allowing users to easily analyze their sleeping patterns at home.

By Jin Young-tae and Lee Soo-min

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]