Cradlewise Raises $7 Mn For Its AI-Powered Smart Cribs For Babies

Silicon Valley and Bengaluru-based Cradlewise has raised $7 Mn in a seed funding round from venture capital firms Footwork, CRV, SOSV and Better Capital. Katrina Lake (founder of Stitch Fix), Jeremy Cai (CEO of Italic) and Dilip Goswani (CTO of Molekule) also participated in the round. 

Founded in 2018 by Radhika and Bharath Patil, Cradlewise manufactures smart cribs for babies that combine the features of a crib, a bassinet and a smart monitor. According to the startup, the crib uses AI to learn the baby’s sleep patterns and adapt to the changing needs. It can spot early signs of the baby waking up and automatically starts rocking and playing music to soothe the baby.

The startup will use the freshly raised funds to expand its team in India with hires in engineering, software, product development and customer service. 

Even though the product has no direct competitor in the market yet, a large part of its functionality can be pieced together by combining different products like an auto-rocking bassinet and baby monitor. The startup justifies the premium price tag (the crib costs $1,499) with the host of machine learning and AI-based features it offers. 

“I’ve been fortunate to have watched this “Tesla of Cribs” come together from an idea to a TIME 100 product from the very early days. Radhika and Bharath are stellar entrepreneurs who are solving an incredibly important problem – using modern tech and AI to help babies sleep better and longer and help parents have a far more fulfilling time with their babies”, said Vaibhav Domkundwar of Better Capital. 

According to Statista, the global baby care products industry is projected to grow from $70.52 Bn in 2021 to $88.72 Bn in 2026, at a CAGR of 3.9%. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a mixed effect on the industry in various parts of the world. 

During the initial onset of the pandemic, the bulk purchase of baby care products (primarily diapers and baby food) drove the sector in many markets. But in India and certain other markets, where the products weren’t treated as an essential commodity, the distribution of products was hampered by lockdown and other restrictions. 

However, the sector is expected to grow in India by $26.35 Bn between 2021 and 2025 at a CAGR of over 11%. This growth is likely to be fueled by the growing number of single-parent and nuclear families.