Track your sleep with Emfit QS
Emfit QS (Emfit quantified-sleep) is a device that can help users optimize their fitness performance by tracking heart rate variability. The company Emfit has a long track record, but is now pivoting into a fast growing health tech company.
The device itself is a non-contact monitoring system that is unobtrusively installed under the mattress and it provides comprehensive reports about physical recovery, stress levels, and sleep quality.
How it all started
Emfit is a Finish startup that was founded in 1990. It is a startup in the sense that the company is in the middle of a major pivot from a small sensor company into a fast growing health tech company. The technological foundation of Emfit was their Emfit Electroactive Ferroelectret Sensor Film, that was developed by the company.
From 2000 Emfit began to dabble in developing electronics that were used for epileptic seizure alarms and for non-body contact vitals signs monitoring. Today Emfit’s tonic-clonic seizure monitor is the best selling seizure monitor system in the world. Emfit QS is based on similar technology and is a device that monitors the user’s heart rate variability and sleeping patterns, even heart and respiratory rates.
What is Emfit QS?
The premise of Emfit QS is based on the importance of getting enough deep sleep for the recovery of the body, and getting enough REM sleep for the recovery of the brain. Sleep quality can greatly affect athletic performance, and letting your body recharge, regenerate and heal plays a vital role in improving physical fitness.
Heart rate variability analysis during sleep gives important information about recovery for athletes and fitness enthusiasts, but Emfit QS also helps anyone interested in their personal wellbeing. “When you track your sleep results, you start to focus more on the lifestyle choices that affect your sleep: physical exercise, working long hours at the office, staying up late having a good time with friends.” (see more here )
The device tracks the heart rate, respiration rate and physical activity, measures the amounts of all the three sleep stages (light, deep, REM), the total amount of sleep and turns and tosses, and scores the quality of your sleep. Based on the results from Emfit QS, users can make informed decisions about their lifestyle choices, get the most out of their exercise routine, and improve their health and wellness.
SXSW
Emfit QS was 1 of 13 Nordic startups that participated in South by Southwest in Austin in the spring. I chatted briefly with Peppina Räisänen, Vice President of Market about Emfit’s experience at SXSW and future plans for Emfit QS.
What did you hope to achieve from participating in SXSW?
“We were hoping to especially get media coverage and conspicuousness, but also to make new contacts. We have had our USA subsidiary in Austin for many years where we have two persons working so we were also to promote our presence in USA.”
What’s next for Emfit QS? What do you plan for the near future?
“At the moment our emphasis is on marketing. We are looking for growth through new retail
deals, which we have with Fry’s in the U.S. and Virgin Megastores in the Middle East, and also in Switzerland and Korea. Part of our strategy is creating subsidiaries in the big main markets like China, where we are establishing our own subsidiary. We just established one in Canada. In the U.S. we already have had one for 9 years. Next up on our list is Germany. We are also coming up with new products and we are also working on creating wearables and utilizing others than just our own sensor technology. This is possible because of our completely own designing from mechanics to embedded electronics, software and algorithms. The biggest emphasis is in growth. During the last year we have hired five more full-time employees to our factory in Finland, two to China and one to Canada. Note that our products are proudly “Made in Finland”!”
