Hello was an American

technology company A technology company (or tech company) is a company that focuses primarily on the manufacturing, support, research and development of—most commonly computing, telecommunication and consumer electronics–based—technology-intensive products and ...

that sold sleep tracking devices and a sleep tracking

application Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

to help monitor

sleep Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain Sensory nervous system, sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with th ...

. The company was founded in August 2012 and shut down in June 2017.

History

Hello was founded on August 28, 2012 by Thiel Fellow and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

James Proud. A successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign from Hello in 2014 raised $2.4 million from more than 19,000 backers, making it one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time. A preliminary financing round from

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

backers raised another $10.5 million. In June 2015, the company raised $40 million in a financing round from

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited ( ) is a Singaporean State ownership, state-owned multinational investment firm. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek has a net portfolio of US$288 billion (S$389 billion) as of 2024. Headquartered at Orchard ...

and Hello was valued between $250 million and $300 million at the time. Other backers included

Facebook Messenger Messenger, formerly known as Facebook Messenger, is an American proprietary instant messaging service developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the client application of Messenger is currently available o ...

chief David Marcus, Facebook's

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Hugo Barra, Facebook executive Dan Rose, former

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Dick Costolo Richard William Costolo (pronounced: ) (born September 10, 1963) is an American businessman. He was the CEO of Twitter, Inc. from 2010 to 2015; he also served as the COO before becoming CEO. Career Costolo was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. In 1 ...

, and

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

's head of special projects, Shakil Khan.

Sense

Hello spent over a year developing a wearable sleep tracking device, but the company ultimately decided on creating a bedside device instead because Proud thought customers would be more likely to keep using the product. Hello released their sleep tracker, Sense, on February 24, 2015; 21,000 units were sold during its launch. The Sense product includes a bedside device, a "Sleep Pill" that tracks a user's sleep by clipping onto a

pillow A pillow is a support of the body at rest for comfort, therapy, or decoration. Pillows are used in different variations by many species, including humans. Some types of pillows include throw pillows, body pillows, decorative pillows, and man ...

, and a sleep tracking app. Sense has sensors that track temperature, light, sound and allergen particle data and can also play sounds to help the user fall asleep. The product gives the user a sleep score every night and wakes the user up at the right point in their

sleep cycle The sleep cycle is an oscillation between the slow-wave and REM (paradoxical) phases of sleep. It is sometimes called the ultradian sleep cycle, sleep–dream cycle, or REM-NREM cycle, to distinguish it from the circadian alternation between ...

. On November 1, 2016, the firm released a voice enabled version of the Sense sleep tracker.

Shut down

While trying to look for a buyer, Proud announced on June 12, 2017, in a blog post on

Medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

that Hello would be shutting down and the company laid off most of their employees that same day. Hello was also reportedly unable to pay its bills. The company said they were in talks with

Fitbit Fitbit is a product lining, line of wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate, quality of sleep, and stairs climbed as well as related soft ...

for them to acquire the company, but failed to reach a deal. According to ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' and ''Buzzfeed News'', Hello shut down due to a lack of consumer demand for Sense, unenthusiastic reviews for the product, and competition from bigger brands. Although Hello shut down in June 2017, the company's website, Hello.is, remained online until January 2018.

References

{{reflist Electronics companies established in 2012 Electronics companies disestablished in 2017 Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Sleep