Owlet Baby Care, which offers a "connected nursery ecosystem," has announced its merger with Sandbridge Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company.
The deal will bring $325 million to the combined company, which will primarily fuel an expansion into the growing telehealth industry.
"Owlet's really sitting at the intersection of two massive trends: the consumerization of healthcare technology and the digitization of professional services," Kurt Workman, CEO of Owlet, told Cheddar.
Owlet's anchor product is the Smart Sock, which collects data such as heart rate, oxygen, skin temperature, and sleep quality from infants while they're sleeping. Parents can then see that information each morning in the form of sleep reports.
The growth potential of innovating in infant-care and health management is what attracted Sandbridge to the company.
"When we look at brands for Sandbridge, we always look at disruption," said Ken Suslow, chairman and CEO of Sandbridge Acquisition Corporation.
"In this case, it was really obvious that when we looked at Owlet that this was a high-growth brand that was disrupting the nursery, an area that's had no disruption for decades."
Suslow noted that the core business has also been growing at 50 percent a year.
The company's long-term goal is to employ products such as its BabySat, an infant pulse oximeter, for babies with health conditions, that has not yet received FDA approval, and an over-the-counter version of the Smart Sock in telehealth screenings.
Suslow added that the capital will help hire new engineering talent and pay for marketing.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
Sinead O’Sullivan breaks down Taylor Swift’s genius marketing for The Life of a Showgirl, which just set the record for most albums sold in a single week.
Markets are emerging from a turbulent Q3. Horizon’s Mike Dickson shares insights on interest rates, small caps, and where investors should look in Q4 and beyond
Bambu Ventures's Kyle Pretsch dives into Lemonaid’s $10M buyout, down from 23andMe’s $400M price tag, and what’s next after Chrome Co.’s dramatic pivot.
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
Grove Collaborative’s CEO shares how the company is reinventing everyday goods with sustainability at the core and working toward a plastic-free future.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens shares plans for affordable housing, community-led growth, and why private and public grocery stores could be key to food equity.
