India’s first startup in China’s HAX shows device at CES, gets Johnson & Johnson backing

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Three months ago, Ray IoT became the first Indian startup to enter Shenzhen-based hardware accelerator HAX. Today the Bangalore-based startup announces another first: backing from one of the world’s biggest makers of baby products, Johnson & Johnson.

Ray IoT’s first product is a device to monitor sleeping babies. It lets parents know on their mobile devices if their baby is sleeping well, if it has rolled over, and if it’s breathing normally. Unlike other baby monitors, it doesn’t touch the baby, so it’s non-intrusive.

Raybaby will launch on Kickstarter this month-end.

Raybaby, as it’s called, will have its first public display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) starting tomorrow in Las Vegas. After CES, the startup goes to San Francisco where HAX will have its demo day on January 10. And finally at month-end, Raybaby will launch on Kickstarter.

Ray IoT CEO and co-founder Ranjana Nair is excited to have the support of both HAX and the American multinational. “Johnson & Johnson is a household name in India. The first gift you think of buying for a newborn baby in India is the J&J baby hamper,” she points out.

Johnson & Johnson invests billions of dollars on its own R&D but is also looking for innovation from outside now. “We have found out the hard way every now and then that if you try to do everything, it doesn’t work,” says John Bell, VP for external innovation and new business models at J&J.

Photo credit: Ray IoT.

HAX connection at Tech in Asia Bangalore conference

Ray IoT has also gained from being in China’s Silicon Valley of hardware, Shenzhen. “You’re surrounded by great technology everywhere you look,” co-founder Aardra Kannan Ambili told Tech in Asia in an earlier interview. “In India, it can be hard being a hardware startup because resources are difficult to find… HAX has helped us with everything from how the product will look like to how a user will interact with it.”

See: How Tech in Asia Bangalore opened doors to Japan for Indian IoT startup Flutura

The connection between Ray IoT and HAX happened at the Tech in Asia conference in Bangalore last year. “We believe that the Ray IoT team has the perfect combination of talent, technology, and ambition,” said HAX partner Benjamin Joffe, who was a speaker at the Bangalore conference. “India’s IoT scene is growing fast and now is the time to connect with the world’s best resources.”