Emma launches Sleep Innovation Accelerator with up to €250,000 funding

Emma — The Sleep Company is launching an accelerator program to help promising projects improving our sleep to achieve success. With the Sleep Innovation Accelerator, Emma is targeting entrepreneurial individuals with new ideas and ambitious growth goals.

With 1.5 million mattresses sold in 2020, Emma is the world´s leading direct-to-consumer (D2C) sleep brand. In the same year, sales increased by 170 percent, reaching 405 million euros. Indeed, Emma has set out to revolutionize the world of sleep. With the accelerator, Emma´s strong growth ecosystem is opening to new teams and their product concepts.“

”Our goal with the Sleep Innovation Accelerator is to promote and encourage talented young people to turn their ambitious ideas into reality, and maybe to found a startup themselves. We are looking forward to many exciting and innovative ideas and to exchange with young entrepreneurs”; says Dr. Dennis Schmoltzi, founder and CEO of Emma — The Sleep Company.

Any business idea related to sleep can be submitted — be it about how to fall asleep, how to increase sleep quality during the night or how to wake up more energized. The selected projects will be supported by Emma through mentoring, market reach (more than 2 million customers) and their experience with scaling D2C businesses quickly. Emma will also provide up to €250,000 funding for the retained projects. The accelerator program will
proceed in five steps over a six-month period:

1. projects which convince in the initial interview will be given the opportunity to participate in an idea workshop. A team will be built, and the further advanced idea of the project will be presented to the Emma Innovation Board.

2. if the concept is deemed convincing, the project will officially become a part of the Sleep Innovation Accelerator. In addition to funding, Emma will provide support in research and development and with ongoing coaching from inhouse experts during the whole project.

3. after three months, the team will meet again with the Emma Innovation Board to get feedback on the progress made to date and to ensure that the project is moving in the right direction.

4. at the end of the six-month phase, an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is supposed to be implemented. It will be presented to various Emma representatives and external consultants.

5. if the project is successful, it will be launched and further supported with Emma´s s expertise and resources.

The application deadline is September 15, 2021, and interested parties can apply here:
https://jobs.lever.co/emma-sleep/b66c5e5e-439c-4a14-bde5-0b8929048d6a