Consumer sleep companies Kryo and Ebb have merged under Kryo management and raised $37 million in new funding. The two companies both focus on regulating temperature for better sleep, with Kryo's ChiliSleep cooling bedding and Ebb's scientifically tested thermal headbands. The merger makes sense from a product perspective, but part of the real value lies in the patents.

Kryo and Ebb both have 11 patents and applications each in the consumer sleep technology sector, which means the agreement has doubled their patent portfolio and given the joint company a larger footprint in temperature devices and environment control technologies. The combined portfolio is now larger than any other company's in the temperature device space except Sleep Number. Additionally, the full Patent Radian® shows that some companies that were significant players in this space such as Gentherm and Tempur-Pedic have slowed their patenting in the last two years. That's not the case for Kryo or Ebb, and future development with the new funding may combine the companies' technologies and result in even more patented innovation. Patents certainly played a large role in this deal, and understanding our Patent Forecast® for Consumer Sleep is a great way to stay up-to-date on new technologies and predict business movement.