The startup had raised $2.4 million in one of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter. It got into limelight in 2015, when it was valued between $250 million and $300 million in a financing round, after raising $40 million in a round led by Temasek. But apart from its early success, Hello failed to roll out new features, with the only real update being the addition of voice control in Sense. Also, rumors then started pouring in about the device not actually tracking sleep that well. And now, it goes into a deep slumber forever.
“It’s with a heavy heart that I share with you the news that Hello will soon be shutting down. The past few weeks we have been working hard to find the right home for Sense and we are still focused on that. There will be lots of questions to which I don’t currently have the answers,” wrote James Proud, Founder, Hello, in a Medium blogpost.
“When we first launched Sense, sleep was one of the most neglected part of our lives. Three years later, for many, it is now rightly recognised as perhaps the most important pillar of our health and wellness, alongside exercise and diet. I am incredibly happy that we were able to play a small part in changing the conversation around sleep,” he mentioned in the post.
Proud is looking for a potential investor who can keep his creation alive for the masses, with no luck so far. However, it is important to note that sleep tracking is still a major realm that tech companies are investing in. In the meantime, smart gadgets like Google Home and Amazon Echo continue to gain traction, with Apple now joining the race with HomePod just last week.
