Wakefit.co And Its Mission Of Revolutionizing Indians' Sleeps
Har Devarukhkar
For humans, sleep is one of the most important elements. Bengaluru-based Wakefit.co has a special mission, which is to revolutionize the way Indians sleep.
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A human can’t live without sleeping. It is an essential demand of human beings, playing an important role in your daily life. All you want to do after a long working day is definitely sleeping. It helps to refresh your energy for the coming day. And fulfilling this demand is the target of Wakefit.co.
In 2016, two men named Chaitanya Ramalingegowda and Ankit Garg created Bengaluru-based Wakefit.co. This online mattress startup offers innovative sleeping products at an affordable price for customers such as bed sheets, pillows, mattresses, mattress protectors, reversible comforters, back cushions for bed frames, and neck pillows.
It also cooperates with several companies and startups which understand the employee’s sleeping demand. Workers also need to de-stress as well as taking a nap at offices. Wakefit.co designs enjoyable and soothing nap rooms for employees to be able to recharge themselves before finishing the work.
What are the co-founders' reasons?
“There was one question that kept bothering us throughout our discussion - are people getting the quality of sleep they deserve every day - and this was the foundation of the idea of starting something that challenged the status quo,” Chaitanya, one of the co-founders, shared.
As the number of innovations in this industry is limited, there is poor customer service and lack of front-end sales, leading to the value of this business to consumers was little. Ankit and Chaitanya used to be colleagues at Tapzo. One day, the idea came through Ankit’s mind while meeting his co-worker for a coffee. They discussed the importance of sleep and how many people have been ignoring one of the three pillars of health. Then, the two brainstormed on the methods to revolutionize people’s lives by providing sleep solutions. That’s how Wakefit.co is formed.
Wakefit.co wants people to have better sleep with different mattresses and other products.
Nevertheless, having customers’ belief is the very first challenge.
Chaitanya explained: “We wanted to prove to them that they could safely spend their money and be assured of a cutting-edge product and a dependable service team that is always available. Hence, a lot of our efforts went into educating them on the science of sleep and how the product has been innovated from the ground up”.
Their success and how?
Recently, Wakefit.co, for their Series A funding, has raised Rs 65 crore from Sequoia Capital.
Until now, the company claims that it holds around 35% of the electrical sleep solutions market. Also, approximately 3% of the mattress market is captured by Wakefit.co. By 2021, the startup’s aim is to hold from 5% to 6% of the total mattress market share.
One-fourth of the startup’s revenue comes from Tier-II as well as Tier-III cities at the moment. Every month, Wakefit.co ships between 7,500 to 9,000 mattresses, 250 to 300 units daily. As the company wants to expand the business, it does deliver across India, even in smalls towns or difficult terrains.
Wakefit.co is expecting to expand its business across India.
Again, Chaitanya implied: “We have always believed in being financially prudent and hence, have been EBITDA profitable since 2016. We ended FY17 with Rs 6.5 crore in revenue that grew to Rs 27 crore in FY18. This year, we ended with Rs 81 crore in revenue. We are confident of crossing Rs 200 crore in the next financial cycle”.