Stylish, reusable noise-reducing earplugs that make hearing protection fashionable, letting people keep loud places comfortable without sacrificing sound quality or looks.
Loop makes silicone earplugs with acoustic filters (Experience, Engage, Quiet, Switch lines, ~$25-$60 per pair) that lower volume while keeping music and speech clear, targeting concerts, focus, sleep, and noise-sensitive users including people with autism and ADHD. The problem it solves is that traditional foam earplugs muffle sound and look medical, so people refuse to wear them. Loop's co-founder, a hard-of-hearing engineer, designed an acoustic channel that filters sound evenly instead of blocking it. Products are sold almost entirely direct-to-consumer through loopearplugs.com (100-day returns, bundles, a product-fit quiz), plus Amazon and select retail; the company later expanded into sleep-focused designs. Versus foam plugs and premium custom-molded hearing protection, Loop wins on design, comfort, brand, and price, with 100,000+ five-star reviews.
Dimitri O, an engineer with a hearing condition, and his friend Maarten Bodewes started Loop in 2016 in Antwerp after bonding over shared tinnitus from nightlife, initially selling discreet earplugs to clubbers and festival-goers through music venues. When the pandemic shut down concerts in 2020, retail dropped to nearly zero and the team surveyed customers to discover unexpected use cases: sleep, concentration, parenting, and noise sensitivity. They rebuilt their ads, landing pages, and pricing around these segments and scaled hard on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok with influencers, growing revenue from about €1M in 2020 to €12M in 2021 on the back of the noise-sensitivity niche. A ~€1M seed round in 2020 was its only meaningful outside funding. By 2023 revenue reached about €126M with over 5M pairs sold that year alone, and 2024 sales reportedly topped $200M. The brand has been ranked the #1 wellness company on TIME's TIME100 Most Influential Companies list and now counts 250+ staff across Antwerp, Amsterdam, New York, and Shanghai.
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Health & Beauty
2022
Kickstarter (2023)$1,405,886 from ~5,750 backers
Ozlo, founded in 2022 by three former Bose employees, makes tiny Sleepbuds that mask noise for side sleepers. Its Kickstarter raised $1,405,886 from nearly 5,750 backers, an Indiegogo InDemand campaign added several million more, and 200,000+ customers across 40+ countries now use it.
Health & Beauty
2021
Indiegogo launch (2022)~EUR 250,000 raised; funded on day one
Pulsetto, founded in Lithuania in 2021, makes a transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulator worn on the neck for four-minute stress and sleep sessions. An Indiegogo launch funded on day one and raised roughly EUR 250,000, and the brand reports 3x year-over-year growth for three straight years and 100,000+ users.
Health & Beauty
2021
Customer reviews1,300+ reviews averaging 4.9/5
LumeBox was founded by Dr. Vivian Chen, a UK-trained integrative medical doctor who could not find a powerful yet portable red light device for her father's chronic pain, so she built one. The company, started as a tiny unfunded team, sells a handheld FDA-registered Class II medical device with 1,300+ customer reviews averaging 4.9/5 and ships to the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK.