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Meditation App Headspace Closes On $93M Series C, Eyes Continued Global Expansion

Headspace, a mindfulness and meditation startup, announced this morning it raised $93 million in a Series C round, which includes $53 million in equity and $40 million in debt.

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Axios’ Kia Kokalitcheva broke the news.

Blisce/ led the equity financing, which included participation from new investors Waverley Capital and Times Bridge (the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group of India). Existing backers The Chernin Group, Spectrum Equity and Advancit Capital also pitched in.

The Series C round brings Santa Monica, Calif.-based Headspace’s total venture and debt raised since its inception in 2010 (was it really founded a decade ago?!) to $168.2 million, according to Crunchbase data. The company declined to disclose at what valuation the latest round was raised. It closed on a $36.7 million Series B in June 2017.

To rise above the hype around meditation, Headspace claims to be “the most science-backed digital mindfulness product in the market.” As an example of that, the company says it’s currently in progress on over 70 clinical research studies with institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University.

Over the years, it’s branched out from its consumer app into different product lines including “Headspace for Work,” its B2B segment that counts Starbucks, Adobe, Hyatt and GE among its 600 enterprise customers. It’s also offering “Headspace Health,” an effort to integrate mindfulness into health care. In general, the company says its goal is to help its users apply mindfulness to improve their health via content around stress, anxiety, sleep and focus, among other things.

Growth

Since its founding, Headspace said it has experienced over 62 million downloads in 190 countries and has more than 2 million paid subscribers.

In addition to growing its direct-to-consumer business,Headspace says it will continue to invest in its Headspace for Work segment, which has seen its revenue double year over year from 2017 to 2018 and most recently in 2019. It also plans to continue putting money into its health care segment. I’ve reached out for more specifics regarding its financials and will update this piece if I get them.

In 2019, the company launched localized versions of the app in French and German, and appointed former Apple executive Renate Nyborg as head of its European division to lead expansion in that region. Also last year, Headspace launched in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. It expanded into Asia through strategic relationships with partners such as The Times of India. The company plans to use its new capital in part to continue expanding internationally.

Investors talk

Alexandre Mars, founding partner of blisce/ said, Headspace’s aim with its offerings “resonates deeply with blisce/’s core belief that it is possible to both ‘Do Good’ while also building a strong business with sustainable growth.”

Rishi Jaitly, CEO of Times Bridge of India, notes that Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe began his mindfulness journey as a monk in India, and as such, he is “excited to bring things full circle through” a strategic partnership.

Of course, Headspace is not alone in the meditation app space. Last February, Calm announced the close of an $88 million Series B round that propelled it into unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation. In July, it announced a $27 million extension to that round.

Blog Roll Illustration: Li-Anne Dias

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