Founded by husband-wife duo Matt Mundt and Angie Kupper, Hug Sleep is known for creating the Sleep Pod. It’s a comfortable swaddle for adults and replicates the feeling of being hugged. They pitched the product on Shark Tank and they bagged a deal with Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner. As of 2023, Hug Sleep is worth an estimated $5 million.
About the Founders
Married couple, Matt Mundt and Angie Kupper hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Matt has a degree in mechanical engineering, and his wife has a master’s degree in community psychology.
Angie became passionate about assisting those struggling with mental illness after her mother committed suicide years ago. After graduating, Angie spent over a decade working in the mental health industry as a therapist.
After college, Matt started working as a product designer and worked for several renowned companies in the field. Though he and Angie had different professions, they had the same goal: to get better sleep.
Founding the Company
When weighted blankets became a trend, Matt wanted to try them himself. So, he bought one and immediately took it to bed. At first, he found the pressure comforting, but he later realized that it also trapped heat.
Matt discovered that weighted blankets are very hard to wash and designed his own comfy blanket. Instead of using weight to apply deep-touch pressure technology, he decided to use compression. What he came up with was a swaddle that could wrap an entire adult body.
Matt called it the Sleep Pod, which was launched under Hug Sleep in 2019. The couple invested only $2,500 to get the startup running. After 16 months in business, they made over $490,000 in sales.
Shark Tank Pitch
Before Shark Tank Matt and Angie had been bootstrapping their startup and reinvesting revenue to expand. They appeared on season 12 of the series, asking for $150,000 for a 10% equity stake.
They called up Robert Herjavec to try out the Sleep Pod and the demonstration had the other Sharks in stitches. Robert ended up falling off the bed and hitting his head which caused him to bleed.
Things heated up once they started talking about revenue. Despite being an early-stage startup, revenue was growing every quarter. They did $490,000 in lifetime sales with a net profit of $140,000. The product retailed for $99.99 and customer acquisition was only $11.50.
A bidding war started with all five sharks making separate offers, this is extremely rare! Then Robert, Kevin and Daymond teamed up to offer $300,000 for 20%. Mark and Lori made the same offer, and they were the ones chosen. Greiner and Cuban are a tough combo to turn down1
After Shark Tank
24 hours after the episode aired, Hug Sleep sold over 25,000 units and made $2.5 million in sales! Three months later that figure climbed to $4.1 million! Angie and Matt are in shock over the rise in sales, they were expecting to sell 3,000 to 4,000 units from Shark Tank!
This helped the founders release a new Sleep Pod for kids and one with a hood. You can buy these products on HugSleep.com, Amazon, and Walmart. They have recently dropped the price by $20 to $79.99 to make it more affordable.
Hug Sleep’s original Sleep Pod has a 5-star average rating from 109 reviews on its website. The company is booming and is now worth an estimated $5 million.
