As mental health awareness scales, so does investment in mindfulness apps. In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Month, we highlight some of the best mental health startups who are leveraging technology to help build healthy minds.
Here are the top eight best mindfulness apps that you should know about.
8 mindfulness apps tackling mental health
1. Headspace
Total funding raised: $75.2 million
Investors include: The Chernin Group, Jessica Alba, Ryan Seacrest, Spectrum Equity
Based in Santa Monica, CA, Headspace was founded by Andy Puddicombe and Rich Pierson. Founded in 2010, it is one of the original mindfulness apps.
Interestingly enough, Headspace, which focuses on teaching meditation techniques, started out as an events company. But when the team noticed that attendees wanted to take what they learned home with them, they decided to provide the mediation techniques online.
In its current iteration, Headspace provides guided meditations conveniently in your smartphone. To date, they’ve raised over $75 million in funding. Some of their investors include prominent celebrities such as Jessica Alba, Ryan Seacrest, and Jared Leto.
Photo source: Headspace
2. Feel
Total funding raised: $1.8 million
Investors include: SOSV, HAX
Sentio Solution’s first product, Feel, is an emotion-sensing wristband and app. This mindfulness app provides continuous monitoring and real-time personalized interventions for individuals that suffer from anxiety and depression.
Based in San Francisco, Sentio Solutions is working on developing digital biomarkers to change the way society diagnoses, monitors and cares for mental health.
Photo source: Dynamic Leap
3. Calm
Total funding raised: $116 million
Investors include: Insight Partners, TPG Growth
Calm’s story originates with Co-founder and Co-CEO, Alex Tew. As Tew describes, at a young age he was interested in how to improve mental health. When he stumbled onto mindfulness meditation, he saw an opportunity to bring meditation to the masses leveraging the Internet. However, the idea never came to fruition.
After a litany of startup ventures and renewing his connection with meditation, Tew made his way back to his original idea. This time, it became a reality. In 2012, Tew teamed up with Co-founder and Co-CEO, Michael Acton Smith – Calm was born.
Photo source: USA Today
To date, the 2017 App of the Year with over 40 million downloads has raised $116 million for their mindfulness app to help create healthier less stressed minds.
4. Humm.ly
Total funding raised: $600,000
Investors include: XRM Media, I2BF Global Ventures
Founded in 2017 by Joanna Yu, Humm.ly is the first music and wellness platform that implements music therapy techniques and interactive technologies in mindfulness and physical practices.
This mindfulness app has quickly captured attention and found itself in the “New Apps We Love 2018” category on the Apple App Store.
With an education background in Mathematics and music therapy and a background as a recording artist and actress in China, Yu uniquely understands the benefits of music and the human brain on a scientific level.
Photo source: Humm.ly
5. Happify
Total funding raised: $25.5 million
Investors include: TT Capital Partners, Mangrove Capital Partners, Bridge Builders Collaborative
Founded in New York City in 2012, Happify leverages positive psychology and gamification to help people live more fully.
Additionally, based on the concept that happiness is a skill that can be strengthened, the mindfulness app uses science and their background in gaming to provide fun and individualized pathways to greater happiness.
Photo source: Mobi Health News
6. Ompractice
Total funding raised: $650,000
Investors include: Springfield Venture Fund, Maroon Fund, Alchemy Group
Founded by Sam Tackeff, Chris Lucas, and Chris Landry in 2017, Ompractice brings the benefits of yoga to those who’d prefer to take their practice home or on the road and is a mindfulness app to people who can’t easily get to a studio.
Ompractice has served yoga and meditation students across 42 states and nearly a dozen countries around the world.
Photo source: Product Hunt
7. Grokker
Total funding raised: $22.5 million
Investors include: First Round Capital, SV Angel, Khosla Ventures
Grokker is a mindfulness app with over 3,700 exercises, mindfulness, nutrition, finance and sleep videos from more than 130 master experts. Calling themselves the “Netflix for wellbeing,” Grokker is a workplace wellness program.
Complete with an enterprise dashboard, Grokker provides real-time tracking for live insight on how effectively your wellbeing program is reaching and engaging employees.
Photo source: Mydish
8. Stop, Breathe & Think, PBC
Total funding raised: $3 million
Investors include: Amplify.LA, Launchpad Digital Health
Stop, Breathe, & Think is an app that encourages users to practice mental wellness every day. Their app is a free mindfulness, meditation tool that is simple and easy-to-use, built for the “under 25” generation. Notably, their mission is to help kids, teens, and young adults build the emotional strength to tackle life’s ups and downs.
Moreover, founded in 2016, Stop, Breathe, & Think shares 10% of its net revenue with Tools for Peace, a non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth experience the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.
Photo source: Susan Kaiser Greenland
