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.
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
