Sleep Country Invests $500K in Blackout Curtains Producer, Sleepout

Sleep Country, one of Canada’s leading sleep retailers, has agreed to invest $500,000 CAD in Sleepout for a 25% ownership stake. Sleepout is a Toronto-based startup that specializes in manufacturing portable blackout curtains. 

The co-founders, Mark Coombs and Hannah Brennen, launched the company because of Mark’s insomnia. Mark has long suffered from insomnia and light sensitivity. He found that the best solution for getting a restful night’s sleep was to have total darkness. However, the couple was frustrated with the lack of solutions available in the marketplace. The entrepreneurs set out to create their own curtain that would provide for complete darkness anywhere.

Their proprietary blackout curtain features industrial-strength locking suction cups and blocks extra light using “Sleepout Pads”, an adhesive technology designed to block out light bleeds. The curtain can be easily installed and removed without wall damage, making it ideal for travel.

Sleepout is committed to environmental sustainability. The curtains are made using sustainable materials and manufacturing processes. The company has also partnered with The Eden Project to plant a tree for every curtain sold. Hannah says, “As a small company, we want to lead by example and prove it is possible to develop innovative solutions to everyday problems without compromising on the health of the planet. Through our journey in becoming the world’s leading portable blackout curtain we want to do good for the environment and leave it better than we found it.”

Currently, Sleepout is a direct-to-consumer business. Sleepout plans to grow by expanding their business in Canada and the United States, and aims to sell their blackout curtains in retail stores by late 2022. As Sleepout moves into this new stage of growth, Sleep Country will provide logistical assistance with warehousing and supply chains.

This latest investment is one of Sleep Country’s latest movements to enter the sleep e-commerce market. In 2018, Sleep Country acquired the leading online sleep retailer in Canada, Endy, for CAD $88.7 million. More recently, Sleep Country has acquired a majority stake in Hush Blankets for CAD $25 million (at a valuation of more than CAD $48 million), a leading online retailer of weighted blankets.

Author: Eran Rubman, 2021/2022 Articling Student-at-law