A top VC who's invested in athleisure and erectile dysfunction hopes 2019 will be the year we all get more sleep

• General Catalyst venture capitalist Peter Boyce is hoping 2019 is the year of sleep.
• Business Insider asked Boyce for his predictions for 2019. Among them, he thinks that startups might start to capitalize on the time we spend sleeping.
• "I don't think we fully understand how important sleep is," Boyce said.
• Here are Boyce's predictions for 2019, including investments increasing in mental health, as well as in stigmatized and less well-understood areas of wellness and health.

Peter Boyce, like many, is tired of hearing about the exhausting, sleep-deprived schedules of business leaders.

"I don't think we fully understand how important sleep is," said Boyce, a venture capitalist at General Catalyst, a firm known for its investments in companies like Snap and Stripe.

While he's not sure 2019 will be the year it fully unfolds, he's already seeing people celebrate sleep - posting about it the way they might a workout or new gadget.

Boyce, who joined General Catalyst in 2013 and has made investments in companies like activewear-maker Outdoor Voices and men's health startup Roman, hopes that an increasing emphasis on the importance of sleep could in turn lead to new companies.

Those companies could turn their attention to the 6 to 8 hours a day customers are asleep, he said.

Read more: 6 top VCs give their best 2019 predictions for healthcare, from a biotech correction to a 'shadow cash economy' stepping into the light

Boyce's other predictions for 2019 include seeing more companies spring up that are looking to tackle mental health.

Boyce oversees Rough Draft Ventures, a program that invests in university entrepreneurs. Through Rough Draft, Boyce has funded companies like Marigold Health and Spring Health, which are working on addiction treatment and mental health.

Going into 2019, he's keeping an eye out for technology that might be able to predict when you might be feeling off, like the next iteration of Apple's Screen Time, one that picks up when your behaviors start to change. On the flipside, he's also interested in lower-tech ideas like Marigold that are more built around support groups.

As an investor in Ro, Roman's parent company, General Catalyst has seen how direct-to-consumer approaches to medicine can build markets in stigmatized areas like erectile dysfunction treatment. Boyce said he anticipates seeing more startups in those areas, particularly when it comes to sexual wellness.

Boyce also wants to see the emergence of retail brands for wellness practices like acupuncture.

"It's exciting to think about a new brand that can debunk the myth of needles are scary and are going to hurt and be expensive," Boyce said.

Click here to read our conversations with 6 top biotech and healthcare VCs about their 2019 predictions.

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• 16 billion-dollar startups revolutionizing healthcare that you should be watching in 2019
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