Gurgaon Techies Build India’s First Smart Headphones That Offer Drug-Like Bliss – Give Deep Sleep, Deep Focus, Deep Rest, Relieve Anxiety

Ahaan wakes up at 6 AM every day. He has recently turned 26 years old.

And this is his ‘healthy era,’ as he likes to term it during conversations on and off Instagram.

This ‘era’ involves a bunch of things – protein intake, omega-3 capsules, magnesium, and a visceral reaction to anything that contains processed, white sugar.

Oh, and also…tracking everything.

He uses a smart ring that tracks his sleep quality, heart rate, calories burned, stress levels, and recovery.

The only problem? Sometimes, the ring isn't charged enough for him to use it throughout the day. Other times, he gets stressed about the readings it shows. And more often than not, he tries shooting arrows in the dark when it comes to fixing his health metrics.

“This is the exact problem that we are solving. Most smart wearables only tell you the problem. And you're left looking for solutions on your own. What we are doing is tracking your health metrics like stress, mood, and sleep, and providing an instant solution that is scientifically tailored to solve your problem,” Ria Rustagi, co-founder of Sychedelic, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2024 and based in Gurugram, Sychedelic is a solution-driven smart wearable brand offering headphones that help people sleep, focus, and live better.

THE BACKGROUND

Hailing from Gurugram, Ria Rustagi and Bhavya Madan (a married couple) completed their bachelor's degree from the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

For her master's, Ria pursued a joint degree from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the Technical University of Munich.

Eventually, by 2017, she started a career in automotive engineering in Germany. 

As for Bhavya Madan, he worked as a research and development (R&D) designer in Gurugram for two and a half years. In 2018, he came to Germany to pursue his master's degree in the space of human-computer interface (with specialization in artificial intelligence) from the University of Passau.

By 2020, Ria and Bhavya started conducting research in the neurotech space of India.

But…is Sychedelic their first product? Not really.

“This was a very unexplored realm and we became pioneers when we made India's and Asia's first EEG brain wearable under Neuphony in 2021,” Bhavya tells Startup Pedia.

Their bet on neurotech wearables was validated when they appeared on the second season of Shark Tank India and even bagged a deal from sharks Aman Gupta and Piyush Bansal.

With more than 5 years of experience in the neurotech space, Ria and Bhavya identified a major gap in the global smart wearable market.

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‘YOUR MOM CAN TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVEN'T SLEPT ENOUGH’

As regular users of smart wearables like fitness rings and watches, Ria and Bhavya struggled with certain limitations.

Like the fact that all smart wearables only focus on tracking health metrics, but offer no tangible support infrastructure to actually address and solve the metrics they monitor.

“If you're wearing a smart watch, for instance, it'll just tell you that you didn't sleep properly last night and your anxiety levels are through the roof right now. My question is – what next? Should I just sit with this information? What should I actually do?” Ria Rustagi says.

“Honestly, your mom or your partner can take one look at your face and tell you that you haven't slept enough. You don't need a watch for that,” Bhavya mentions on a lighter note and smiles.

The gap was clear – a severe absence of anything that is solution-driven in the smart wearable space.

That is how Sychedelic was born.

JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

In 2024, Ria Rustagi and Bhavya Madan started the development phase of Sychedelic.

For their previous brand under the same entity, they had already raised an investment of Rs 23 crore. Some of the amount was spent on giving attractive exits to early-stage investors, and the rest was utilized to conduct R&D for Sychedelic.

Prior to 2024 (while building Neuphony), they had already gone through the challenges of researching and understanding the deeptech market in depth.

After identifying the gap in the smart wearable market in 2024, the entrepreneur duo wanted to offer something easy to use and consumer-friendly for people.

“The neurotech market is deeply complicated. Which is why it becomes all the more important to be as simple as you can when you try to execute a solution here. We thought about making solution-driven smart earphones, but quickly realized they come with the risk of causing hearing loss and other issues. So we made the conscious call to make AI headphones that transform the brain positively,” startup founder Bhavya Madan says.

Sychedelic brought together a team of psychologists and neuroscientists that immersed themselves in the development intricacies of the headphones.

As for Madan, he went to the United States of America to train under Dr Marom Bikson, a very well-known neuroscientist who specializes in the tDCS (Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) method of neuromodulation.

“Marom condensed three decades of research into lessons I could understand and absorb. It became one of the foundations of Sychedelic,” Madan says.

BREAKING DOWN NEUROTECH

When asked to explain neurotech in simple terms, Ria Rustagi and Bhavya Madan break it down into three stages:

1. Neurotech (the science of interacting with the brain and nervous system) can be intrusive in nature. Think of it as something invasive where a device or chip is surgically implanted inside the brain to interface directly with the brain neurons. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is an example here.
2. Then, there is extrinsic neurotech, where devices interact from outside the body, without surgery. This brain-computer interface consists of non-invasive neurofeedback. A good example is headbands that track an individual's brainwaves, stress levels, and focus.
3. Non-invasive neuromodulation, on the other hand, involves changing how the brain functions by stimulating it using electrical or magnetic methods that alter neural activity.

“Sychedelic falls under the third bucket here – neuromodulation. Our headphones are built to transform,” startup founder Ria Rustagi mentions.

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SYCHEDELIC: PUTS YOU IN THE FLOW STATE

Sychedelic offers smart AI-powered headphones that gently help individuals improve their sleep quality, enhance their attention spans, cognitive endurance and recovery, build on their problem-solving and memorizing abilities, and significantly reduce states of anxiety and stress.

Through the power of cutting-edge tDCS (Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) and a proprietary AI recommendation engine, Sychedelic puts the human's brain into either the BOOST MODE (flow state) or UNWIND MODE (relaxed state), as required.

“This is the same technique that NASA explored to help its astronauts beat fatigue and depression in space,” Bhavya Madan remarks.

The product's user journey is fairly simple:

1. The robust AI algorithm and PPG sensor read the individual’s mood and ask them questions about it.  Additionally, it tracks heart rate, stress levels, and recovery levels.
2. Based on the user's current state, Sychedelic delivers the right audio and stimulation to guide the mind. It combines binaural beats with tDCS to promote faster focus, recovery, sleep, and balance.

“We named it Sychedelic, because that is exactly what our early testers related it with – a feeling of intense, almost drug-like bliss that psychedelics offer. The only thing is, we are safe, controlled, and scientifically backed,”Bhavya Madan shares with Startup Pedia.

The thing that makes Sychedelic a safe intervention is that it does not, at any moment, force the brain into action.

It reads the brain's current state, asks the individual what they need, and gently induces their brain to align with the desired outcome.

“Simply put, with Boost Mode neuromodulation, HRV/PPG bio-tracking, and personalized audio, we unlock sharper focus, faster recovery, and calmer states,” Bhavya Madan remarks.

Apart from neuromodulation, Sychedelic does everything that a high-quality pair of headphones does – offer spatial audio, active noise cancellation, low latency, and perfect audio infrastructure for long meetings, calls, long flights, and even jet lag.

The founders describe it as an all-in-one product – one that tracks your health, improves it, and also functions as a regular, high-quality pair of headphones.

Validated by 600+ users who achieved 92% efficacy, Sychedelic was launched in the market in August 2025.

“We've received great feedback all this time. The product has reported no side effects and has also not made people dependent on it. In fact, it enhances neuroplasticity in a way that encourages emotional regulation after 5 weeks of regular use,” Bhavya adds.

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GROWTH AND FUTURE

On November 1, Ria Rustagi and Bhavya Madan pitched their deep-tech startup on Zee TV’s show Ideabaaz.

Since its market launch, Sychedelic has witnessed a 30% month-on-month growth in terms of sales.

By December 2025, the active wellness device will be launched in the American markets.

Sychedelic’s perfect customers are people who hustle every day but want a work-life balance, biohackers looking to optimize their health to the last T, and active athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

In another three to four years, Sychedelic will start building products that address women's health (postpartum and menopause).

“For FY26, we are targeting a revenue of $0.3 million with a sales target of more than 1,000 Sychedelic headphones,” Bhavya says.

“The next wave in consumer tech will not be about screens, but states of mind. At Sychedelic, we are inventing mind-altering products that give people the life they long for – one of deep rest, unwavering balance, deep sleep, and deep focus. All without the constant tug of the anxiety monster that holds people down. Think of Sychedelic as something that knows you have potential; it just helps you unlock it smoothly,” Ria Rustagi concludes.

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