After 12 years and 55 million downloads, Ipnos, the company behind Relax Melodies, was acquired by healthcare company Teladoc Health. Teladoc Health is a telemedicine company that also owns BetterHelp, the well-known therapy app. The acquisition includes a brand new name for Relax Melodies, along with a new logo. BetterSleep, the new name for Relax Melodies, reflects the app’s goal and its place within the Teladoc family.
In light of all these changes, we sat down with Ipnos’ founder, Simon Bérubé, to discuss the company and the acquisition.
What motivated you to start a company focused on tech and wellness?
It all started with my co-founder Philippe suffering from tinnitus. He was looking for a way to have a personalized experience for sleep using his phone. The only tools available at that time were static white noise or using a fan.
How would you describe your 12-year ride with Ipnos so far?
Wow, it has been a fantastic journey as an entrepreneur! I’ve learned so much personally and at the same time helped millions of people feel better. To this day, it’s still hard to believe that it was all real. I’ve also met so many great people and built a team that I love to work with. I couldn’t be more lucky to have such an important mission and the opportunity to work at Ipnos.
What led to the acquisition? Was it a difficult decision?
I expected it to be a difficult decision, but I knew that Ipnos needed to have the financial power to reach the top of the market. Teladoc was such a great fit that it was an easy decision in the end.
What was the reasoning for the recent rebrand?
Originally, Relax Melodies fit perfectly with its name: an app featuring soothing melodies for sleep and relaxation. The product became so much more over the years that a rebrand was required to reflect this evolution. Our library of content is huge and diverse and was built with sleep in mind since day one.
What can people expect from BetterSleep in the future?
They can expect to find the most complete toolkit for sleep within our app. We’ll give you all the resources you need to understand your sleep at every stage of life. Sleep is unique to everyone, so we want the solutions we provide to be tailored to our users’ individual needs.
What’s your sleep chronotype?
Like most people, I’m a rabbit. You could say my schedule follows the sun - I’m wide awake when it’s sunny and I start getting sleepy when it gets dark. I wouldn’t say I’m a morning person, but I’m more productive earlier in the day.
What’s your favorite piece of sleep advice?
Make sleep a priority in your life. It seems so simple, but it can really change everything.
