People’s Champion finalist 2017: Simba Sleep

Start-up name: Simba Sleep
Founders: James Cox and Steve Reid
Started in: 2015
Based in: London
Business description: E-commerce mattress company

Shortlisted category:

Product Business of the Year, Venture Funded Business of the Year

The Simba Sleep story:

With the average human being spending 26 years of their life in bed, a good mattress is something everyone needs – and Simba Sleep believes its offering is the most advanced in the world.

Utilising The Sleep to Live Institute, which has a data bank of 10 million body profiles, Startups 100-listed Simba went through over 80 prototypes before arriving to its final product – a good indicator of just how meticulous its co-founders James Cox and Steve Reid are in helping consumers get that perfect kip.

Spending over a year in R&D with design experts and sleep scientists pre-launch, Simba claims its Hybrid mattress is the first dual spring and memory foam mattress of its kind in the UK.

Delivered straight to your door compressed in a box, Simba is so confident of its product it gives all buyers a 100-night trial period to test the mattress, and will give them a full refund if they’re not satisfied.

Believing the traditional process of bed buying to be “archaic and removed from the world of innovation”, Simba’s vision has been backed by host of entrepreneurial and venture capital heavyweights including Tom Teichman of lastminute.com, Nigel Wray of Saracens and Richard Reed of Innocent Drinks.

From a standing start in March 2016, SIMBA Sleep has sold a staggering 70,000 mattresses throughout Europe and now claims to be the direct-to-market leader in Europe.

Having raised nearly £20m to date, the London-based start-up has already expanded to France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, North America and the Middle East, with plans to roll out in 34 countries over the next 12 months – a new territory every two weeks.

Why Simba Sleep made our shortlist:

With a string of rave reviews within its industry and worldwide expansion well underway, despite some equally impressive competitors, Simba Sleep has clearly created a brilliant product.

Backed by The Sleep to Live Institute, as well as high-profile entrepreneurs and those with industry insight, as the battle of the beds ramps up we’ll be keeping a keen eye on Simba and its evolution of the world’s “most advanced mattress”.

Where to find out more about Simba Sleep:

Website: www.simbasleep.com
Twitter: @SimbaSleep