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.
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
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