A Shopping Experience, Knowledge Of the Space, And An Ideal Cofounder: The Serendipitous Story Of Wakefit

When Ankit Garg, the cofounder of Wakefit — an online sleep solutions startup — went to purchase a mattress back when he was a bachelor, little did he know that this experience would become the answer to his entrepreneurial quest.

Having worked in the chemical industry, Ankit was aware of the cost of raw materials that went into the making of one single mattress, and other sleep-related products as well. What he encountered in the market though, was significantly different. Prices of products were inflated due to middlemen and further, salespersons knew very little about the science of sleep. This eventually led to a confusing experience for customers and thus the overall chain which the industry functioned through, appeared to be distorted.

This was when Ankit realised the potential that lay within the sleep solutions segment and partnered with his cofounder Chaitanya Ramalingegowda to build Wakefit in 2016.

In a short span of three years since its launch, Wakefit has achieved many milestones

• The startup is one of the pioneers to take the sleep solutions segment online
• The startup has sold over 3.5 Lakh products online till date to over 3 Lakh customers all over India
• The company has a daily production capacity of 500 mattresses
• It is backed by Sequoia Capital with a funding of $9.5Mn (INR 65 Cr)
• It has a manufacturing unit in India, facilitating better monitoring of the entire production cycle
• It uses memory foam technology, which gives its products an edge

Bringing Sleep Into Everyday Conversations

India is rapidly pacing towards becoming the fastest growing economy and startup hub in the world with 39K operational startups, but are people in India getting enough sleep? As per Wakefit’s survey, the Great Indian Sleep Scorecard 2018, apparently not. Indians on an average are sleeping 6.5 hours, 22% less as compared to the 1950s. In fact, across the globe, sleeping patterns are changing, with Japan sleeping the least, at an average of 5.52 hours.

Experts say that most people are still unaware of the negative effects of the lack of sleep. Excessive use of electronic devices such as computers, television and mobile phones, complimented with a lifestyle involving smoking, social media scrolling, high-pressure jobs, etc. can be attributed to the factors causing lack of sleep among people.

With a mission to help people sleep better, besides the focus on bringing quality products, Wakefit is bullish on making people realise the importance of sleep. The company takes regular feedback from customers, through its employees on the products it manufactures, in order to consistently iterate towards that ‘perfect’ product. Interestingly, one of the core products has gone through 15 rounds of iterations in the last three years. All of this shows the ‘people first’ approach of the company and the fact that more than selling their products, it’s bigger mission is to help Indians realise the importance of sleep.