Mediga: Why is intelligent hardware "sleepless"?

Absrtact: Intern reporter Wang Mengmei November 18, 2014, Shenzhen Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to Mediga) released a global market for sleep monitoring hardware small z, and in the international well-known network Indiegogo to solicit feedback from the global users. Intern journalist Wang Mengmei


　　





November 18, 2014, Shenzhen Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Mai Plus")





released a "small z" of sleep monitoring hardware for the global market and solicited feedback from global users on the Indiegogo of internationally renowned public networks. And only one day, the product to complete the 50,000 U.S. dollars of the target, get beyond the expected support.




With such support,
founder Huangjin a lot of psychological sureness. "Small Z" is a fine design of intelligent hardware to real-time monitoring of the user's sleep status, it has entered the stage of small production, the first batch of production of 5000 units, so sales must not worry.





and two years ago, their first baby sleep monitoring product produced 1000 units, only dozens of units were sold. February 2011, Beijing University Microelectronics professional postgraduate Huangjin with students to set up Mediga, a few months later, they graduate, and has been nervous research and development of sleep monitoring products. The name of Sleepace, the first product to monitor baby sleep in August 2012, is still in use.





"One-third of the world's people have sleep disorders, and health is no doubt, sleep health is increasingly becoming a global concern." So after the baby's sleep monitor failed, they persisted in their sleep-monitoring products, Huangjin said. The subsequent sleep products of middle-aged and elderly people were successful in the 2B market.





this time, Andy has released a direct user-oriented "Little Z". By experimenting with these products, the student's start-up company is gradually looking for its own market.





Product Alternation





2011, the company's first baby sleep monitoring product failed-according to Huangjin revealed that the product volume produced 1000 units, the result only sold dozens of units. Although there was no user survey at the time, the Huangjin team did not anticipate that Chinese demand for baby-monitoring products would be so weak.





"in Chinese traditional culture genes, babies are usually grown up under the care of grandparents or nannies and do not need to use sleep monitors to measure heartbeat and respiration." "he said.





and this product is another failure because the mobile internet, three years ago, is far from reaching this year's popularity, and the product is not combined with a mobile phone. Although the product has been mass production stage, and in Jingdong, maternal and child shops, confinement centers and other channels of sales, but have not been very good feedback.





's first product failure, Andy began to turn the market to middle-aged and elderly people. The product is also a success, and several partners to jointly launch a dual-branded products used in mattresses and nursing homes, that is, partner brand +sleepace, the price and the same as conventional products. This product market is located in Europe, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and mainland China. Huang said that the product has also been taken to Italy, France, Hong Kong and other CES (Consumer electronics exhibition), during the exhibition has been greatly praised.





Huangjin revealed that the partners have Vienna hotel, health insurance and Platinum Tao Hotel Management Group (hereinafter referred to as "Platinum Hotel") and so on. The Platinum Hotel is a seven-day hotel, founded after the New York City retreat, its midrange hotel will be used for O2O mode, the hotel will be made into an experience center, so that customers experience the first purchase.





but the pursuit of the perfect Huangjin is not satisfied with the product, due to the financial input and staffing are not perfect, product industrial design and app interactive design have not reached exquisite, the main win in the market positioning accurate. Moreover, he is not satisfied with the 2B market (business-oriented) imagination.





at the end of 2013, Huangjin team that 2C (consumer-oriented) products should have greater demand, 2C products for the user experience, interactive experience, comfort and industrial design, such as the aesthetic requirements of higher, so the team developed a "small Z", and 2B business is still in normal development.





Huangjin said that the product from the initial design began to the late development, production took less than a year, because the first two products are based on the most core technology-related, and after two years of marketing to obtain global feedback, yellow and the team to better understand the needs of consumers.





It is understood that the sensor is the core of the product, the global patent of the sensor stripes to ensure the accuracy of the product, the measurement of respiration and heart rate basically reached the level of the medical sector, with the medical sector only 5% difference. The product's magnet buckle cover design, prevents the product to slide, and does not have any key, this in the user experience and the interaction design, the craft design Sleepace team All did very meticulous, the user operation is more convenient, comfortable.





"Little Z" has a special place, is to be able to automatically identify whether the person in the bed, the need for the user's very low degree of coordination, which embodies the most humane design is to let users do not perceive his existence, not change the habits of people, at the same time, but also to make their health and good advice to improve.





"Little Z" is bound by Bluetooth and the app on the phone, real-time monitoring of user sleep data, including when to go to bed, when to leave, when to turn over, and heart rate, breathing and other indicators, as well as data assessment and user recommendations to improve sleep. This also guarantees the duration of the power supply. Huangjin told reporters that the product can be used for two months.





Huangjin said that the user population of small z was located at 30-35 years old, the Chinese user population is relatively young, while in the United States, the 50-year-old is also relative to the younger population, their cognitive level and the acceptance of scientific products is higher than Chinese peers. In addition, small z will gradually dabble in the concept of family cloud, through a mobile phone terminal monitoring multiple platforms, so that users can understand the family's sleep quality and health status.





Now, small z is connected to the mobile phone terminal via Bluetooth, but because Bluetooth is a distance, so follow Huangjin's next plan is to develop a WiFi version so that users can monitor it without distance restrictions. But the WiFi version needs to be fixed on power consumption. "The rise in battery power requires revolutionary advances in basic disciplines, because the most fundamental reason for batteries is material, volume-related, material without revolutionary progress, and the energy of Unit volume capacity is still limited," Huangjin said. ”





Team Collaboration





Currently, Sleepace has 24 intellectual property rights in the world, including the United States and Europe, and trademarks are registered in the United States, Europe and China.





according to Huangjin introduced, Andy plus a total of 21 people, Research and development team of about 12 people, production, procurement, quality of 4 people, 5 people responsible for marketing and sales. Product core is technology and sales, production is foundry.





Huangjin told reporters that sleep monitoring hardware is an interdisciplinary product, including medicine, sensors, electronics and software. Small Z's exterior design is part of outsourcing while the core team is also involved.





It is understood that Mai plus raw materials procurement by the person responsible for the main point is to find the right supplier, to the manufacturer of the right to speak at the same time to find a full cooperation with the production company. Mediga this July, after the completion of the financing, the company recruited a dedicated production director, Production director of the previous more than 20 years as director of the company, mainly for the Japanese companies, quality supervision of the head of Omron and Casio for seven or eight years before. When it comes to supply chain management, the Huangjin team has touched many walls before. Including product industrial design, mold design, production, quality control, "deep water", and through the front two products, Andy Plus in the supply chain management has made great progress.





Huangjin told reporters that the selection of materials through a large number of tests to meet the requirements of the research and development team to choose. Huangjin revealed that the small Z product part of the components used with Apple original shell of the same material, the material products have been European CE security certification, material certification and the United States security certification.





when the bulk of the product does not reach a certain scale, it is difficult to find a suitable size of the factory willing to undertake this kind of work, Michael and the team spent a lot of time to find "matching" factory. Huangjin Summary "To find a factory first to find an experienced person in charge, he has a lot of resources in hand." Secondly, it is to go more and see more. After running 20 factories, he chose a factory in a Japanese-owned company.





Financing Story





in the domestic, sleepace as a new generation of intelligent Health Equipment representative, Fu a test water market, is widely concerned.





July 2014, Mediga gained a round of 20 million yuan investment in the Gobi venture. At the same time, the team will buy equity from the early angel investors in the hands of repurchase.





Huangjin revealed that the early sleepace of funds from the grassroots investment in friends. The company's angel investors have former Huawei company executives, a more than 30-year experience in the pharmaceutical industry angel investors, together with Huangjin's Peking University mentor, to the team in the management and investment channels to provide a lot of guidance and support.





Huangjin said they chose the Gobi venture because they were most focused on smart hardware. "They also have a lot more successful smart devices in China recently, and they have a deeper understanding of hardware." ”





Huangjin revealed that in the early days of corporate finance, a listed company in Shenzhen to come to the door, and put forward investment intention. And in negotiations, due to the idea of conflict and did not reach the intention of cooperation. But in the near future, he opened a small press conference with Huang's Sleepace Roadshow, announcing to the media that it would work with another company and launch the product in 2016. The share price rose by 30% in the time after the conference.





Huangjin says entrepreneurs need to be careful about their strategic intentions when looking for industry investors to finance. It is understood that Sleepace is preparing for a second round of financing. "Gobi Venture is still a company suitable for long-term investment cooperation, and will also consider with bat and some well-known VC institutions." ”





Huangjin that good products speak, and he wants Sleepace to have a good result in the United States to prepare for financing. "It is because the team does not have a large enterprise work experience, so in the early days of entrepreneurship went a lot of detours." "He thought," this year is the company's fastest-growing and the most smooth year, which is related to the overall situation of the industry, but also the timing of the people and. ”





in his view, the story that Sleepace can tell an investor is much richer than a test analysis product. "People don't doubt health, and one-third of the world's population has sleep disorders, so at least hundreds of millions of people have a need for sleep monitoring." Through medical statistics to analyze, sleep monitoring is only a point of entry, it is only to find problems, but how to solve the problem is more important. In the future, we will also develop hypnotic hardware. ”





Huangjin revealed that next January, Mediga will release a new product in the United States, which can promote fast sleep, allowing users to sleep more smoothly at night, and allowing users to wake up comfortably, a big step forward on the basis of "Little Z".





and then future development will play in space, the environment has a great impact on sleep, such as temperature and humidity, light, noise, drying degree has a great impact on the next step of the product is to improve the sleeping environment. It is understood that the company has with Haier, Hisense, TCL and other negotiations, the future sleepace extension may be as a bedroom intelligent control center.





Huangjin said, such as evening users sit up, bedroom lights on, guide users to the bathroom, back to lie down lights automatically extinguished. And the future, there are more and more wonderful stories. "The future sleepace will continue to expand in this respect, raising the threshold." For example, the extension of time, the current product focus on the evening, perhaps later will cover 24 hours, the biosphere is more perfect, this is just a good start. "he said.