Cradlewise is an innovative technology company that has developed a smart crib designed to enhance infant sleep. The startup was launched in 2016 by a mother of two, Radhika Patil, along with her partner Bharath Patil, and received $7M in seed funding in 2019.  

The company was listed as the second fastest-growing company of 2024 by Exploding Topics, with a 5,200% 5-year search growth. Last year, the company received an Innovations Award at CES 2022, which significantly boosted interest in the emerging company.

This Cradlewise smart crib is notable for its built-in baby monitor and responsive bounce feature, which intuitively reacts to a baby's movements and sounds. When the crib senses the baby waking up, it begins to gently bounce to soothe them back to sleep, mimicking motions that are calming for infants. 

Additionally, it integrates a noise machine and can learn and adapt to the baby’s sleep patterns, optimizing sleep routines over time. In this article, we will discuss how an Indian woman entrepreneur found this valuable and groundbreaking tech, built this consumer product from the ground up, and what the inspiration behind it was. 

Radhika Patil: Early Days & Background

Born and raised in India within a close-knit family primarily composed of doctors, Radhika experienced no familial pressure to pursue a career in medicine. 

Instead, her passion lay in mathematics and electronics, which led her to complete an engineering degree followed by a Master’s in Electronic Design from IISc (Indian Institute of Science) in Bangalore, India. That’s where she met her business and life partner, Bharath Patil. 

With over eight years of experience in the semiconductor industry, Radhika has always been captivated by the practical applications of technology. She worked at companies like Qualcomm and Marvell Semiconductor in Bangalore before she founded Cradlewise in Silicon Valley. 

Finding Cradlewise

The Idea Behind Cradlewise

The concept for the product emerged after the birth of Radhika and Bharath’s first child, Anushka. Through their own experiences, the couple understood the challenges of parenting a newborn. 

They noticed that most smart sleepers available in the market only started to soothe the baby once they had fully woken up, rather than detecting early signs of awakening. 

This gap highlighted an opportunity for us to create a unique solution. Their aim was to design a crib that simulated natural parental movements—specifically, they chose a bouncing motion over a rocking one, inspired by the soothing effect of bouncing our children on a yoga ball at 3 am.

Validating The Idea & The Problem Statement

Radhika says that her kids are the inspiration behind everything she does. Around 2016, when Radhika and Bharath figured out the problem they wanted to solve, which was baby sleep, that may trouble everyone at home. 

However, the co-founders were aware of the “founder bias” and wanted to validate if the problem they were trying to solve was really a problem for others as well. For that, she interviewed 200+ people herself on an Infant Sleep Survey. 

That convinced the founder couple that infant sleep is actually a problem and parents do “hacky” stuff to counter that. They got convictions about the space they found in the market. This was in India. 

However, Radhika wanted to launch in the US first, so she went there and carried the first prototype of the smart crib, Cradlewise’s hero product. She got in touch with parents from Facebook groups and offered them $20 Amazon Coupons in exchange for their testing.

Flying to the USA during COVID-19

Navigating the startup journey during the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge for the co-founders. Initially, they were scheduled to relocate to the U.S. in April 2020 to officially launch our product. 

However, the unforeseen chaos unleashed by the pandemic forced them to postpone both their move and the product launch. When India commenced Air Bubble flights to the U.S., they jumped at the chance and boarded the earliest flight to San Francisco. 

It was perhaps a bold decision —traveling across continents amid a global crisis with their children in tow! Living closer to their Cradlewise community in the U.S. allowed them to stay directly connected with the market and actively participate in building our product and company.

Tech Behind Cradlewise

Radhika contributed her expertise to Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors, focusing on power management systems, while Bharath, during his tenure at Texas Instruments, developed a sensor technology that resulted in 15 patents and grew a business from a proof of concept to a $20 million venture.

However, it was in 2018 that Radhika and Bharath Patil left their jobs and jumped in as full-time co-founders of Cradlewise. 

Radhika brought home Snapdragon hardware development kits from Qualcomm designed for hobby projects, and Bharath brought his 3D time-of-flight sensor. 

Together, they developed a proof of concept, gradually integrating a motor. The initial design and development of their first prototype took place in Bengaluru. Their innovation journey propelled them into a U.S.-based hardware accelerator, HAX, which Radhika describes as "the Y Combinator for hardware startups."

During this transformative period, Domkundwar's Better Capital invested in its vision. The accelerator program in Shenzhen, China, 2019 provided the Patils with crucial insights into the hardware tech supply chain and helped facilitate their entry into the U.S. market. 

By this time, they welcomed their second child, further enriching their personal and professional journey.

Finding the MVP

Radhika and Bharath Patil faced the challenge of building an MVP that went beyond the typical development hurdles due to stringent safety concerns associated with infant products. 

Initial iterations included a wood prototype tested by friends, which confirmed strong market demand. By then, they had developed several prototypes and participated in the HAX accelerator, gaining invaluable insights.

This period saw significant personal investment and facing complex challenges, such as convincing manufacturers to produce limited prototype runs. Through perseverance and strategic decisions, including focusing on a condensed market area around San Francisco for initial testing, they maintained high product quality and responsive customer service.

The Growth Pressure

In an interview, Radhika elaborated on the multifaceted challenges she and her co-founder faced while scaling Cradlewise, describing the initial phase as a period of "slow growth." 

Despite this, they maintained the high quality of their cribs, prioritizing product integrity over rapid expansion. The journey of building Cradlewise proved to be capital-intensive, stretching their financial resources. 

Moreover, establishing trust with consumers was particularly challenging as a new entrant in the baby product market. Interactions with investors sometimes added to the struggle, with some stopping presentations midway to express their disinterest in the business. 

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic further complicated their efforts, disrupting production plans and delaying their timely market entry. Amid these hurdles, relocating to the U.S. during the pandemic represented a strategic yet daunting decision intended to align closely with their primary market and propel the product launch.

This move exemplified their commitment to overcoming obstacles and advancing their business amid a complex and challenging environment.

Cradlewise Today

After years of hustle and hard work, surveying parents, building various prototypes, networking with investors, and fighting to maintain the quality of the product while scaling, Cradlewise finally had a breakthrough of 5000% of 5-year search growth last year. 

Solution To The Problem

Cradlewise is now established as an advanced smart crib that transforms into different forms and includes a built-in contactless monitor to detect early signs of a baby waking up. It then automatically calms the baby using a soft bouncing motion, reminiscent of the soothing techniques parents instinctively use.

Equipped with AI technology, the crib adapts to and learns the baby’s sleep habits, eliminating the uncertainties of ensuring a restful sleep. Inspired by natural parental comforting methods, the crib's design minimizes nighttime disturbances, allowing the entire family to experience deeper, more rejuvenating sleep. 

Additionally, the associated app enables parents and caregivers to monitor the baby from afar, check sleep data, play soothing music, control room temperature, and more, enhancing convenience and peace of mind.

Today, Cradlewise is valued at close to $40M and is one of the fastest-growing startups. 

Final Thoughts

The journey of Radhika and Bharath Patil to find Cradlewise is nothing short of an inspiration for budding entrepreneurs. The first thing we can all learn is to be determined problem-solvers while staying grounded and objective about our product. 

Radhika was empathetic toward her target audience, and went really deep in understanding the problem from the core. Besides, as a parent, she had her own personal life to get feedback from. 

Secondly, the entrepreneur duo founders flew from India to the USA mid-COVID-19. This proves that they were fast-moving and decisive business people who would do anything in their power to bring their vision to reality. 

Another very important aspect is the relationship building that Radhika and Bharath did to build a supportive community of customers, investors, and employees. It’s also important to note that the co-founders did not rush the scaling; they grew the company consistently and sustainably over a period of time and made a profitable product. 

Besides, the Cradlewise team was grounded and tested their product many times before going all in and investing all time and money into it. For sure, the Cradlewise journey is an inspiring one, and its cribs are a valuable solution for new parents. 

Hope this article inspired you to be a better entrepreneur and that you learned something from it. Thank you for reading.