Asleep
1 known investors
Asleep develops sleep-tracking AI that analyzes a person's sleep by monitoring breathing and movement sounds captured through a device microphone, without requiring wearables. The models were trained on polysomnography hospital data and home-environment recordings to estimate sleep stages accurately even in noisy household settings.
Also known as Asleep Inc. Β· μμ΄μ¬λ¦½ Β· μ£Όμνμ¬ μμ΄μ¬λ¦½
Investors Β· 1
Valuation Β· disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed β follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Asleep Inc. (μμ΄μ¬λ¦½) is a Seoul-based sleep technology company that builds AI models which infer sleep stages from breathing sounds recorded by a smartphone or other device microphone, removing the need for wearable hardware. Its core commercial product is the AsleepTrack API, a sleep tracking and analysis module that client companies integrate into their own applications and devices, supported by SDKs, developer documentation, a sample app, a management dashboard and sleep report design guides. The company also offers SleepBoard, an AI companion product that summarizes the prior night's sleep and drives smart-home environment control (lighting, air conditioning, temperature and humidity) based on real-time sleep stage data, and it runs consumer apps including SleepRoutine, Sleep AI (Track, Sounds, Alarm), Apnotrack and ν¬λ‘λ ΈνΈλ.
The underlying model analyzes breathing rhythm, cycle, tone, depth, volume and pattern to infer autonomic and motor nervous system activation, and to detect events such as apnea and hypopnea. Rather than processing raw audio on servers, the system converts sound into Mel-spectrogram images on the user's device, discarding what the company describes as roughly 95% of the original audio information before transmission, with non-breathing sounds filtered as noise. The company states its stack has been validated for accuracy across ethnic groups, BMI ranges and genders, at distances up to two meters, and with low-quality and built-in smartphone microphones. Asleep reports 74 patents filed, 22 publications, and KFDA Class 2 medical device certification for its standalone diagnostic feature.
Founding story
The company was established in 2020, with origins at KAIST. CEO Dongheon Lee describes an initial hypothesis that breathing sounds could be the most accurate signal for sleep tracking; comparing recorded breathing sounds against hospital sleep study data confirmed the hypothesis and led to further R&D. The stated mission is to make polysomnography-grade sleep testing, described as costing about $1,500 in a clinic, effectively free and available at home.
Business model
B2B2C software licensing: Asleep sells the AsleepTrack API and related SDKs, dashboard and report templates to companies that embed sleep tracking in their own apps, appliances and services, while also operating its own consumer apps that serve as a data-collection and fine-tuning channel.
Usage-based API pricing described as having no upfront adoption cost, with customers selecting only the features they need and paying for actual usage; consumer apps carry in-app purchases and advertising. A 60-day free trial is promoted.
Traction
Reported figures include 2,201,145 service sleep data training records, 74 patents filed, 22 publications, 6,090 hospital PSG studies and 400 home-environment PSG studies used in training. Its Google Play app 'Sleep AI: Track, Sounds, Alarm' shows 5,000+ downloads. Deployments span telecom, insurance, banking, appliance and consumer-electronics partners in Korea.
Latest developments
The website carries a 2025 copyright, promotes a 60-day free trial for the AsleepTrack API and links to a 2026 Asleep sleep report; SleepBoard, combining an AI sleep companion with smart-home environment control, is marketed alongside the API. Asleep Inc. maintains multiple consumer apps on Google Play, including an apnea screening app, Apnotrack.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Positions itself as a sleep-tracking SaaS provider supplying sleep measurement infrastructure to partners rather than competing solely on consumer hardware; cited by WIRED among sleep trackers with outstanding accuracy and selected as one of the Korea AI Startup 100 in 2023.
Requires no wearable or dedicated bedside hardware β only a smartphone microphone β and the company cites an accuracy benchmark study of 11 commercial sleep tracking devices in which its AsleepTrack ranked highest as of April 2024, ahead of wearables and nearables from large technology companies. Additional differentiators cited are KFDA Class 2 medical device certification, on-device conversion of audio to non-reversible spectrogram images for privacy, and a body of peer-reviewed publications.
Technology
Sound-based, non-contact sleep staging. Breathing audio is converted locally on the device into Mel-spectrogram images that an image-based AI interprets into wake/REM/light/deep stages at five-minute intervals, plus hourly respiratory instability risk scoring. Training used 6,090 hospital polysomnography studies cross-read by sleep technicians and specialists, 400 home-environment PSG studies, and 2,201,145 service sleep records from the SleepRoutine consumer app for fine-tuning. Data is encrypted in transit and audio is deleted after image conversion.
Go-to-market
Direct enterprise sales of the API ("contact sales" motion) supported by self-serve developer documentation, sample apps and a free trial; partnership and MOU-driven expansion with large corporates and research institutions; and consumer apps distributed through app stores that also generate training data and public visibility.
Companies adding sleep functionality to existing products: health, fitness, finance and wellness apps; IoT and smart-home/appliance makers; insurers; and consumer-electronics manufacturers. Named adopters and collaborators include Samsung Life Insurance (The Health app), Samsung Electronics (built-in app on Galaxy Tab), SK Telecom (A.dot), Hana Bank, Kyungdong Navien, CheongKwanJang, LG Electronics and the O-Care app.
Geography
Headquartered at 12F, JustCo Tower, 431 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Site and products are offered in Korean and English, with preparation to enter the Japanese sleep market through a partnership with SoftBank Group subsidiary Realize, and research collaborations with US institutions including Stanford University and the National Sleep Foundation.
History
Founded in 2020, with seed funding raised the same year, Series A in 2021 and Series B in 2022 at a stated $72M company valuation. In 2022 it signed an MOU with LG Electronics for research collaboration. In 2023 it deployed the 'A. sleep' service in SK Telecom's A.dot, signed MOUs with Stanford University and the National Sleep Foundation and with Realize (a SoftBank Group subsidiary), co-authored a paper with Stanford University and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, ranked first among 11 commercial sleep measurement devices, hosted the Sleep, Tech, Life 2023 event, presented 10 abstracts at World Sleep 2023, was named to the Korea AI Startup 100, collaborated with Kyungdong Navien, and reported a $90M corporate valuation in connection with Hana Bank. In 2024 it implemented sleep analysis in Samsung Life Insurance's The Health app, shipped as a built-in app on Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab, collaborated with CheongKwanJang, and was selected as an OpenAI collaboration company.
Risks & controversies
The consumer app relies on continuous overnight microphone access via Android foreground services and the Google Play listing indicates data collected may include location and personal information and that data is not encrypted in transit for that app, while the company's own materials state audio is converted to spectrogram images on-device and encrypted. The app listing also states it is not a medical device and does not diagnose or treat conditions, whereas the company cites KFDA Class 2 medical device certification for a standalone diagnostic feature. Privacy policy text published on the site is attributed to a differently named entity (λΈμ΄μ μμ΄μ¨ μ£Όμνμ¬).
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 15
launches, deals, and filingsDated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
βΈResearch sources Β· 8
primary sources listed
- Asleepasleep.ai Β· web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Asleep do?
- Korean sleep-tech company offering an AI API that measures sleep stages from breathing sounds captured by a smartphone microphone.
- Who are Asleep's investors?
- Asleep's investors include Kakao Ventures.