[2024 Korea Conference]
Founded in 2020 by Dongheon Lee, Asleep is one of South Korea’s leading sleep tech companies. Sleep technology is the field of developing technologies related to sleep, and it is developing in various ways to ensure a good night’s sleep, which has emerged as one of the biggest concerns of modern human society.
Among the many areas of sleep tech, Asleep focuses on sleep testing. It has a technology that can measure the sleep status of app users through smartphone microphones. This means that you can sleep with the app on and it will tell you what you need to do to get a good night’s sleep.
The company has discovered that many people want to seek medical help to get a good quality sleep, but are often put off by the time and expense of polysomnography at the doctor’s office.
With Asleep’s technology, users can analyze their sleep without wearing a special device. Having studied artificial intelligence (AI) at KAIST, one of the most prominent tech schools in Korea, Lee and his team created a technology that analyzes sleep data with AI.
“I had started several startups before and failed, so I thought it was important to become a company with solid technology,” said Lee. “We accumulated 10,000 cases of data while conducting clinical trials with Seoul National University Hospital to improve the accuracy of sleep tests, and this technology was recognized when we collaborated with Stanford University’s Sleep Medicine Center.”
Today, Asleep has collaborated with large Korean companies such as SK Telecom and KB Financial Group and has been recognized as the “Best sleep monitoring app” by media outlets.
Yet, it hasn’t been without its challenges. When he first started the company, he wanted to develop a dedicated device for sleep testing, but it fell through. This led to conflicts with co-founders and made Lee wonder if he should give up the business altogether.
However, Lee reorganized the business to overcome the situation. He decided to go all-in on AI and changed the direction of the business model to sell to businesses rather than consumers. With unrivaled technology in AI, Asleep started winning contracts with major corporations, where the company’s early promise to compete with technology has paid off.
Lee emphasized that the more clients they have, the more sleep data they accumulate, and the more accurate the sleep test becomes, meaning that now the company’s explosive growth begins.
With investments from Korean conglomerates such as Kakao, the company is looking to expand globally. Since the company has already been recognized for its technology in the U.S., including collaboration with Stanford University, it plans to accelerate its activities in the U.S. by seeking investment and strategic partnerships.
“We hope to become one of the top companies in the world in the field of slip tech, and we believe we are approaching this goal through our technology. The Korea Conference will be our stepping stone to expand globally.”
BY WONHEE CHO, HOONSIK WOO [cho.wonhee@koreadaily.com]
