Colorado Inno

Named a Startup to Watch earlier this year, Denver-based Cubby Beds is on the move ... literally.

Cubby Beds develops smart safety beds for people with disabilities and special needs such as autism, down syndrome and sensory processing disorder. The startup launched in March 2020 and is now moving into a new office.

Cubby Beds is relocating on Sept. 15 to The Amp at 1580 N. Logan St. in North Capitol Hill. Renovations at The Amp were completed last year, and now the 41-year-old building boasts a training room, lounge space, bike storage, showers and other modern office amenities.

The startup’s new office will span 6,500 square feet, more than double the size of Cubby Beds’ current 3,100-square-foot space at 1514 Blake St.

“I care a lot about design ... and I felt that in order to build a culture of design, we needed to have a nice space that people really wanted to come to,” said Caleb Polly, founder and CEO of Cubby Beds. “And the other part of it is I’m a big believer in the office culture. And I think that there is something to the water-cooler talk and all being in a room and whiteboarding together.”

The space will be outfitted with a mock bedroom for marketing and demonstrations and a kitchen that will be shared with one other tenant.

With employees coming into the office three or four days a week, Cubby Beds needed room to grow. The new office can fit about 60 people at full capacity, giving the startup’s current 25-person team plenty of space.

As Cubby Beds’ team grows, the startup has rights to expand into other units at The Amp as they become available.

Polley told Colorado Inno he signed a three-year lease at The Amp and is paying approximately $16,000 per month.

Founding story

Cubby Beds got its start long before it launched at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

Polley was inspired to start Cubby Beds by his childhood friend with Down syndrome. As he got older and entered into the workforce, Polley said he noticed existing beds and products on the market designed for people with disorders were “institutional” and “sterile.”

He began working on Cubby Beds at night and on weekends in 2017 while also working full-time at SendGrid, a Denver-based email software that was acquired by Twilio in 2019.

After SendGrid’s acquisition, Polley took the stock he had in the company and decided to work on Cubby Beds full-time.

In designing and developing the beds he wanted to create a space that was both inviting and safe. The current iteration of Cubby Beds is an enclosed pod-like bed with mesh fabric, safety zippers, a light and two-way sound monitoring system.

Materials for the beds, called Cubby, are made at four factories in the U.S. and Mexico and assembled and shipped to customers from Cubby Beds’ warehouses in Denver.

In July, Cubby Beds rolled out a proactive stance to help families get a Cubby that's fully paid for by insurance or Medicaid. The beds are considered FDA-regulated medical devices.

Traditionally, a patient will see their doctor and the doctor provides treatment options. The shift with Cubby Beds puts information about Cubby in the hands of families before they see a doctor.

The steps to get a Cubby from insurance average two to six months but can take up to 18 months. It can be complicated and stressful, Polley said.

“A lot of people fall off, and they don't make it through the whole process,” he said. “ ... Our goal here is to take some of that burden and workload off of their shoulders.”

The startup walks families through how to ask for a Cubby prescription from their doctor, and make sure insurance covers the cost of the bed, which is typically around $10,000. They use templated guides and a customer support team.

Since launching, hundreds of beds have been shipped to customers in all 50 states, according to Polley.

Cubby Beds has raised $1 million to date, from investors and pitch competitions. Polley said the startup’s revenue has tripled over the last year and that the company is profitable but cash and cost-conscious.