Embr Labs - $73.81M Total Raised
Back in 2013, Sam Shames, David Cohen-Tanugi, Matt Smith, and Sheng Zhang weren’t pitching VCs or chasing headlines; they were freezing in a lab at MIT. The thermostat was a dictatorship. So they did what good engineers do when comfort is compromised; they hacked the damn system. That moment birthed Embr Labs, and a decade later, the world’s caught up to what they already knew: temperature isn’t just a number on a wall. It’s personal.
Fast-forward to 2025, and Embr isn’t just making wristbands. They’re rewriting the sensory experience of everyday life with a wrist-sized thermal regulator that’s as slick as it is smart. The Embr Wave has been strapped onto 150,000 wrists across 177 countries. It’s FDA-registered, clinically validated, and AIdriven, delivering cooling or warming waveforms based on your body’s signals. Less power than a nightlight, more impact than you’d expect.
Now let’s talk numbers. $73.81M raised. $35M of that landed in May 2023 as debt financing, with Ghost Tree Partners LP and Aon plc backing the vision. That’s not a charity check. That’s a bet on scale. Because this isn’t some wearable hype piece riding wellness trends. It’s science-backed, patent-protected, and precision-engineered for a market that’s finally being taken seriously.
330 million women navigating menopause. 2.5 billion people riding the edge of burnout. 1.5 billion losing sleep over…everything. Embr Labs is playing in all three lanes. And they’re not whispering wellness affirmations, they’re offering clinical-grade tech that turns body temperature into a lever for relief.
Credit where it’s due. CEO Elizabeth Gazda has been steering the ship since 2019 with precision. Sam Shames is COO, still pulsing with the founder's fire. Matthew Smith brings the science, and David Cohen-Tanugi holds it down as CTO. When Bose Ventures, DigiTx Partners, and Ghost Tree Partners LP sit on your board, you’re not just making noise; you’re moving markets.
Retail’s expanding in the US and UK. R&D is deep in chronic pain and athletic recovery. The algorithms are getting smarter. The app is learning your rhythms. And behind the curtain, they’re hiring talent in engineering, clinical research, and supply chain because building the future takes more than vision. It takes precision.