India is the second most sleep-deprived country where 30% of the population is occasionally insomniac and almost 20% is regularly insomniac, according to Surbhi Jain. “The sleep-aid market is a $10 billion opportunity, and its surface hasn’t even been scratched yet,” she says.
Hailing from Lawa, a small town in Rajasthan, Surbhi Jain is the founder of Neend, a Bangalore-based startup that helps solve people’s sleep-related problems through a health and wellness app on your smartphone. Neend offers stories, sleep sounds, guided meditation and other calming and relaxing audio experiences in several Indian regional languages. An IIT-Bombay alumnus with over eight years of startup ecosystem experience, Jain says she came up with Neend after having to deal with her own sleep-related issues caused during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Neend was conceptualized when I myself faced sleep issues at the peak of the pandemic and all the stresses that came with it. After some research, I found out that India is the second most sleep deprived country in the world,” says Surbhi Jain.
Sleep-related issues are often linked with physical ailments like low immunity, poor cardiovascular health, memory loss and eating disorders, according to Jain. Not just that but sleep is also linked to mental well-being, lack of which can cause emotional disorders, anxiety, depression or loss of motivation.
Jain claims that despite the high demand for sleep remedies, there weren’t enough non-medical solutions for cure or relief. “Especially for the population that does not speak English,” according to Jain. “Hence I launched Neend to address this pain point and started off with the content vertical.”
In over a year, Neend developed over 1000 sleep stories in five languages. Surbhi Jain recounts how the content was initially hosted on just YouTube as a pilot and within just three months of encouraging tracking, the Neend app was launched across Android and iOS – the Android app now has over 5 lakh downloads. The biggest differentiator for our content has been that it is available in vernacular languages (Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu) and is in sync with the local Indian context in addition to the English content.
While true for many industries, the one thing that stands out very prominently for the health and wellness industry is the need for personalization. Since every individual has their own meaning of what wellness means to them, solutions must also cater to this diversity, and Surbhi Jain and Neend’s team understand this differentiator very well. “We are solving this need by pursuing localization in our content,” she emphasizes.
The Neend app does this by giving the listener an overwhelming sense of familiarity, from the sounds to content, language and beyond, explains Jain. “Familiar noise or language from our loved ones has made us feel safe and secure. Listening to a story in your own mother tongue, as if a family member is narrating to you, is the easiest way to fall asleep. It makes us feel safe, and emotionally connected and has no harmful effects. Understanding this has been the key to our success so far and what sets us apart – most of our users fall asleep in under 15 minutes,” claims Jain.
Sleeplessness is a complex equation to solve, and doing it in a very unique and creative way while building an understanding of “why this happens” is personally exciting for Surbhi Jain, as an entrepreneur. This isn’t her first rodeo, the IIT-B alumna has led multiple initiatives at startups like xto10x, Holachef and has also worked as an investment professional at Kae Capital (leading investments like Snapmint, NuaWoman, TranZact, among others).
Speaking about the secret sauce that makes Neend click with so many of its users, Surbhi Jain mentions how the app’s approach to solving sleeplessness is based on a sound technical background. “We embed science and technology in different aspects of our offerings. Our relaxation techniques make use of the science of brainwaves and the content/music is developed to help people transition from high brain activity to relaxation,” she highlights.
Neend also offers some food products for purchase through its app, products that they claim will help customers sleep better. These edible commerce products undergo several trials of R&D to curate the most effective formula, according to Jain.
“For example, our sleep tea is different as it has a unique combination of melatonin and chamomile not easily found in other teas. We also have plans to build a gamified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia or CBT-I tool, the conceptualization for which has begun,” says Jain. Going forward, the startup plans to leverage technology more intensively and start working on sleep-tracking mechanisms such as wearable devices, thereby ensuring the future Neend app provides a complete 'Sleep Loop' to their users. A one-stop-shop for all sleep woes, according to Surbhi Jain.
She sees a huge market potential for sleep solutions that are accessible, affordable, and relatable for Indians across demographic/linguistic groups. “And in crafting these solutions, technology and digital platforms form the backbone of our thinking and innovation, Google's role in our startup journey has been indispensable,” says Jain, recognizing how YouTube helped them launch their content publicly as an MVP and get a sense of user needs. “The YouTube pilot was crucial to get feedback from users and build a community, which helped us iterate our offerings and launch our own app,” according to Jain.
Neend had a stellar 2022, where it was one of the top ranked health and wellness apps on Google Play 2022, a fact that Surbhi Jain is very proud of. She says that being recognized at such an esteemed platform has been nothing less than a dream for a young company like Neend, giving the broader team the confidence that their vision has the potential to touch lives, which inspires them to keep going.
There are several success stories of Neend, on how the app has improved the quality of listeners’ sleep. Jain mentions a special case, “I spoke to a user recently who was heavily dependent on alcohol to fall asleep, leading to a lot of health, family, and work issues. But over a couple of months, he has been able to make the switch completely and now only relies on the Neend app for a good night’s sleep.” She says that nothing gives the team at Neend greater satisfaction than knowing that their products can help a user reduce dependency on any harmful substances.
“Biggest challenge when starting up is to build a team that is motivated and skilled. I feel proud when I look back at the journey of growing the Neend tribe from 1 person to 15 today,” says Jain. India is currently seeing a boom in the number of startups that are coming up and the Indian consumer today is willing to try new things and is digitally equipped to leverage new, unique offerings that fulfill their needs, which is a very good trend for young and budding entrepreneurs, according to Jain. About Neend and her team that’s trying to change the world by making it sleep better than ever before, she concludes by saying, “We’re learning, we’re growing and we want to keep going.
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Jayesh Shinde
Executive Editor at Digit. Technology journalist since Jan 2008, with stints at Indiatimes.com and PCWorld.in. Enthusiastic dad, reluctant traveler, weekend gamer, LOTR nerd, pseudo bon vivant. View Full Profile
