Springfield startup launches sleep product in Vegas

An Australian native with previous ties to Leggett & Platt Inc. (NYSE: LEG) this weekend signed his startup’s first international licensee during a mattress trade show in Las Vegas.

On Jan. 28, the 2018 Las Vegas Furniture Winter Market also served as Advanced Sleep Technologies’ iSense Sleep launch date. Founder and CEO Paul Longman is scheduled to visit Los Angeles on Feb. 1 to promote the sleep-aid product on television program “Worldwide Business with Kathy Ireland,” according to spokesman Tim Hershberger.

Over the weekend, Longman penned a deal with Russian mattress manufacturer Askona for iSense Sleep. The line of three mattresses allows users to control comfort levels through a mobile app. Askona, which supplies more than 950 stores, became the exclusive provider of iSense in the Russian market, according to a news release.

“I’m always looking for something exciting when coming to these shows,” Askona CEO Roman Ershov said in the release of iSense Sleep. “I’m anticipating that our customers will love having control over their comfort, on both sides of the bed.”

Longman started Advanced Sleep Technologies in 2016. A former Leggett & Platt managing director in Australia and New Zealand, he moved to the area because his wife is from Carthage, Hershberger said.

Advanced Sleep Technologies soon plans to approach Joplimo Mattress LLC and Mattress Firm Inc. to pitch its iSense product, Hershberger said.