A company developing a strapless and adhesive mask for sleep apnea patients has raised $520,000 in a private equity offering, according to a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Snap CPAP LLC raised the money from 14 investors, according to the filing. The company also raised $50,000 in January 2016.

The Pittsboro, North Carolina-based company was founded in 2015 and has developed a mask that’s 25 percent lighter than a nasal pillow mask. It’s small and light and leaves no marks on your face.

Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder that causes people to stop breathing while they are asleep. At affects approximately 2 percent of the population and is most common in people between the ages of 55 and 60.

Its founder is Stuart Heatherington, who is CEO of Bleep LLC.

Heatherington is a part-time novelist. His first book, “The Weight of Glass,” is available on Amazon Kindle. At present he is a member of the South Carolina Writers Workshop and Raleigh Write 2 Publish. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he graduated with a BA in history and developed a love of writing.

Private companies similar to Snap CPAP, which rely on a Reg D exemption, aren’t required to register securities offerings with the SEC, but instead they must file a Form D electronically with the SEC after they sell the securities.