Bellabeat, a company that makes a line health trackers and other devices aimed at women, including especially moms and moms-to-be, today begins shipping its first wearable: a piece of “smart jewelry” called the Leaf. The device, which can be worn as a brooch, necklace or bracelet, allows women to record their activity, sleep, stress and reproductive health with the help of an accompanying mobile application.
The startup, a Y Combinator graduate from the accelerator’s Winter 2014 program, first introduced the Leaf last fall alongside a connected ultrasound monitor and smart scale, with promises that the jewelry would ship this year.
The item is designed to provide pregnant or new moms (or any woman, really) a way to monitor their movements and sleep patterns, similar to other activity trackers on the market today. However, the Leaf differentiates itself by also introducing a way to help women track their stress levels, too. It does this by measuring your breathing movements, which it uses as a proxy for stress.
Of course, if you’re planning to work out, you’ll need to wear the jewelry attached to your garments instead of as a necklace so it doesn’t get confused.
Also unique to the Leaf is its ability to help women track their menstrual cycle using the Leaf app, where the tracker’s data is combined and collected. The idea is that women can not only notate details about their cycle in the app, as many third-party apps today allow for, but they can cross reference that information with the data the wearable collects to help them better understand their overall health trends. This could potentially help women increase their chance to conceive, the company claims.
Unlike many fitness trackers which tend to have bulky straps and a decidedly unisex appeal, the Leaf is designed to look like real jewelry to appeal to a more fashion-conscious crowd. The original Leaf is made with American ash wood and a stainless steel clip. And today, Bellabeat is introducing a second variation with the Leaf Black Edition, which offers a darker wood combined with a gold-plated clip.
The device offers a 6-month battery life and a replaceable battery, and comes in a biodegradable packaging made of sugar cane fiber, bamboo, and reed pulp. It’s being sold for $119, which also includes a leather bracelet and necklace.
Perhaps because of its aesthetic appeal, the Leaf has already attracted a number of potential customers. According to co-founder Urška Sršen, 120,000 women have signed up for the waitlist to date. Now it’s time to see how many will become customers.
But Bellabeat is no longer relying only on its own e-commerce sales – the Leaf will be sold on Amazon, Target and Best Buy, too. Sršen says that orders placed will ship in 2 weeks’ time – so, around mid-June.
The Leaf mobile app is not yet live, but will launch when the product begins to ship. However, screenshots (see above) show a light and minimalist interface that lets you view your health data and charts, as well as view key metrics with a glance.
In addition to Y Combinator, Bellabeat is backed by investors including SV Angel, Universal Music Group, CrunchFund (disclosure: TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington also founded CrunchFund), Cherubic Ventures, Promus Ventures, and others.
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