In each edition we delve into the minds of those who are redefining the boundaries of health. Our goal is to share the insights and stories of those leading the way to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for everyone.

This is a particularly exciting edition as I’m talking to the Founder of Kokoon Technology, Tim Antos. I was fortunate to work with Tim when we were Management Consultants at Capgemini and know he is truly brilliant.

Please could you tell us the story behind founding Kokoon- what drove you to create this amazing company?

I used to work in a very busy, stressful job in finance that used to often take me into the small hours of the morning. This coupled with my very active busy mind, led to me developing insomnia with myself. I’d often get in bed and not be able to stop thinking, leading me to struggle to get to sleep then I’d often wake during the night and find the same thing happening when I tried to get back to sleep. This led me to the sleep clinic and this was where my world changed. As well as resolving my issues I discovered the fascinating world of sleep and sleep science.

It seemed crazy to me that this thing we spend 1/3 of our lives doing that affected everything that was most important to us; our health, our happiness, our performance, our looks, our mental health we simply leave to chance. This coupled with the size of the problem with over 1/3 of the population having symptoms of insomnia whilst 2/3 of us are not happy with our sleep was what inspired me to create Kokoon.

Our mission at Kokoon is to embed sleep science into everyday life to enable all of us to get more from our sleep and unlock its full potential so we can lead happier, healthier, better lives.

Sleep is often an undervalued part of our lives, could you give us a little insight on the importance of sleep on people’s health?

There is a great book many will have read, and all should read called “Why we sleep” by Professor Matthew Walker. He has a few quotes which resonate with my research along the years; particularly “The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life” and “Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day — Mother Nature’s best effort yet at contra-death”.

What has been an unforeseen challenge you have had to face with Kokoon and how did you overcome it?

We’ve faced all kinds of challenges at Kokoon from weeks left of cash to product issues, production issues, suppliers and investors pulling out at the last moment. Aside from all of this, probably our biggest challenge has been making it comfortable to listen to audio throughout the night, all night long. With the variation in people’s ears (they’re rather like feet!) and personal preferences, it has taken us years of testing, hundreds of ear scans and the creation of the world’s thinnest earbuds for us to really crack this challenge.

What are your goals with Kokoon in the next 5 years?

Earlier this year we pivoted our business to focus on being a software and technology partner for bigger brands integrating our technology as a feature (we’ve just launched the Philips Sleep Headphone in collaboration with Philips). Our goal is for our technology to be helping millions sleep better and more efficiently in the next five years. Ultimately we’d love to see struggles with sleep a thing of the past and for humanity to find a much healthier relationship with sleep.

Please can you help our readers to understand your investment journey? How have you attracted investors and how has it facilitated the pace of acceleration?

Over the years we’ve raised over £8m in investment. These investors have been critical to our journey helping us navigate the trials and tribulations experienced by new technology. It’s not always been easy- particularly when we started out as a hardware company. However, we’ve been lucky enough to find backers who believed in our mission, the size of the market and were as frustrated as we were that there weren’t any solutions to this critical challenge.

Could you please tell us an interesting fact about yourself?

I love the rain and over the years have built a huge collection of different rain, storm and wind sounds; always searching for that perfect blend!