Smarter Slumber

The billion-dollar startup working to optimize health with better sleep

- BY KATHERINE FUNG

MOTIVATION Zatarain's father's health struggles influenced her role at Eight Sleep.

IN THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, EMPLOYEES at one startup are competing to find the best sleeper. And there's a clear front-runner, according to the leaderboards at Eight Sleep’s New York City office.

“I’m a really good sleeper,” Alexandra Zatarain, the company’s co-founder and vice president of brand and marketing, laughed. “I’m always winning. When I’m traveling away from my Pod is when someone else can finally win.”

Eight Sleep, which bills itself as a “sleep fitness” company, is best known for its Pod, a smart mattress cover with an immersive heating, cooling and elevation system. Like a wearable, the Pod also tracks sleep metrics, allowing users to test whether it really lives up to the promise of deeper slumber. But instead of slipping on a watch, you simply lie on top of it.

“Sleep is the number one challenge for so many people in the world right now,” Greg Wells, a physiologist and the bestselling author of titles like Rest Refocus Recharge: A Guide For Optimizing Your Life, told Newsweek. “Whether it’s athletes, businesspeople, knowledge workers, everyone is struggling with sleep. And the data backs that up. Twenty-five percent of Americans have a diagnosed sleep disorder. It’s a huge number.”

“What we've discovered is that sleep is a superpower,” Wells added. “When you sleep well, you learn better, you're more creative, you can problem solve. These are all critical factors for us to work, and if we're not sleeping, we can’t work well.”

Tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, top-ranked American men’s tennis player Taylor Fritz and longevity’s poster child Bryan Johnson would likely agree—and they all go to bed on Eight Sleep mattresses.

And the 11-year-old startup isn’t stopping there.