Sleep monitoring company Bam Labs raised $3.5 million according to an SEC filing. The company has never formally announced rounds of funding or its investors, but previous SEC filings dating back to 2006 add up to $17 million in a combination of equity, debt, and security. The current round would bring total funding to $20.5 million.

Bam Labs makes a "smart bed" system consisting of a touch-free sensor placed under a user's mattress that measures heart rate and respiration rate, motion and bed-presence. Originally a clinically-focused company, Bam Labs has expanded into the consumer side in recent years via a notable partnership with Sleep Number.

The two companies together developed a technology called SleepIQ to track and monitor each person’s sleep, show what kinds of comfort adjustments each person can make, and suggest changes the user can make to their daily routine. The bed also tracks each person’s average breathing rate, movement and average heart rate. Sleep IQ was introduced in January in Sleep Number's X12 but rolled out to all Sleep Number beds in June. 

At the same time, the company announced that its medical business included access to more than 4,500 hospitals and 12,000 long-term healthcare organizations. They reported the return on investment for the technology, based on a six-month independently conducted study, was found to be 351 percent for moderate to high risk patients, and 254 percent across all patients.

“We believe a smart bed should make sleep monitoring as easy as going to bed,” CEO Richard Rifredi said in a statement this summer. “The true power of a BAM Labs smart bed is that it requires the user to do nothing. Our smart bed experience – whether for a consumer enjoying a great night’s sleep on a Sleep Number bed or a patient sleeping on a medical smart bed – is completely touch-free and non-intrusive. It works automatically, behind the scenes, requiring no interaction with the person who just wants a good night’s sleep without having to hook up to a bunch of intrusive wires and sensors.”

A 12-week study of long-term care residents completed by Goodmark Medical also showed that Bam Labs technology reduced development of new pressure ulcers by 85.4 percent and overall pressure ulcers by 50 percent. Additionally, the average compliance with standard two-hour turn intervals increased by 35 percent. This data could be particularly relevant now that at least one hospital is requiring a wearable sensor monitor certain patients for pressure ulcers.