Why We Invested In Nanit, A Computer Vision Baby Monitor

Will Porteous We are extremely excited to announce our seed investment in Nanit, the next generation baby monitor leveraging computer vision. When I was first introduced to the co-founders of Nanit, Andrew Berman and Assaf Glazer, I was instantly impressed with their vision for the product and deep knowledge of computer vision. Nanit fits a pattern we see time and time again in New York, where early founding teams are at the intersection of multiple disciplines. Assaf, a PhD in machine learning and computer vision, was able to form a strong team quickly, including former executives from Diapers.com, Philips Medical, and a former venture capitalist from Northwest Venture Partners. We have seen this pattern in prior entrepreneurs, such as Ben Kaufman, founder of Quirky (despite the company’s challenges) and Bre Pettis, founder of Makerbot. Both founders surrounded themselves with an interdisciplinary team to tackle unique challenges. The Nanit team leverages technology to answer one of the most fundamental questions that all parents ask, “Is my child safe and sleeping well through the night?”. This question leaves many parents sleep deprived and exhausted. On average, moms and dads lose 20.3 hours worth of sleep per week during the baby’s first year alone. -Daily Mail I certainly remember being a new parent myself and wish there would have been such products. All we had for baby monitors was fuzzy audio and occasional beeping, which left you with no idea what was actually going on. We certainly didn’t have baby monitors leveraging machine learning. In the evolution of baby monitors, first, you could hear your child. Next, you could see your child. Now, with Nanit, you can hear, see, track and understand your child’s sleep patterns. This means parents can see not only whether their baby is sleeping, but how well their baby is developing. All of the data collected is easily visible through the Nanit mobile app where parents can see trends over time and gain actionable insights. One of Nanit’s beta testers explained how she can check the app in the morning to see how her baby slept. If her child had a rough night of sleep, she would add in an extra nap during the day. If you are interested in learning more or purchasing a Nanit for someone you know, they launched today and are being sold at a discounted price for a limited time here. We love companies that use hardware and software to build rich user experiences and are proud to support Nanit alongside some great partners, including Mark Suster from Upfront Ventures, Flextronics, and Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. Originally published at www.rre.com.