Kima Ventures is one of the world's most active early-stage investors, investing in 2 to 3 startups per week all over the world; providing founders with funding, network, and support for them to reach the next steps of their journey. The firm invests from seed to Series A, mostly as lead investor but also working alongside other investors; backing ambitious founders who work hard to build awesome things that more and more people use everyday. The company helps them to build a great team, to learn very quickly, to keep the right focus and execute towards growth. Kima takes pride of itself in working side-by-side with entrepreneurs. They claim to understand that fundraising is only one step in the company’s journey, that’s why they take quick decisions and make the fundraising process as smooth as possible so the founders can get back to the work of building their business. Kima considers itself not only an investor, but a network of founders and experts sharing a pay it forward mindset. Headquartered in Paris with an office in London, the company was founded and backed by Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad and supporter of entrepreneurs through such projects as 42, Station F and 101projets. Over the last 5 years Kima has invested in over 400 startups in 24 different countries.

Kima Ventures

Very Serious Ventures is an investment firm.

Very Serious Ventures

Plug and Play is a seed and early-stage investor focused on great teams leading emerging growth companies.  Plug and Play runs 12 industry-specific accelerator programs twice a year, that acts as a platform for major corporations and high quality startups to connect and collaborate.  Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Plug and Play participates in Seed, Angel and Series A funding where they often co-invest with their strategic partners. Through years of experience and as part of their network, Plug and Play has put together a world-class network of serial entrepreneurs, strategic investors, and industry leaders who actively assist the firm with its successful and growing investment portfolio.  SEED ROUND. Plug and Play participates in seed round investing through a program called Startup Camp. Startup Camp is a 10-week program based in Silicon Valley for top-notch entrepreneurs to work intensively on building out their business model. Select startups will refine their business models and prototypes with help from a combination of structured workshops, speaker series and mentorship sessions, as well as active coaching from their investment team. At the culmination of Startup Camp, founders will have crystalized their business plans and pitched their company to the venture capital community at EXPO Demo Day.''  ANGEL ROUND Plug and Play makes angel round investments throughout the year, sourced from their monthly Plug and Play Angels (PAPA) sessions. They are partnered with local angel investors in Silicon Valley who participate in PAPA to find the most promising startups and best new technologies.  SERIES A. Series A typical Series A round is in the range of $2 million to $10 million, and is intended to provide operating capital for the company for six months to two years. This round capitalizes the company as it develops its products, performs initial marketing and branding, acquires talent, and conducts other early-stage business operations. It is in this stage that Plug and Play will co-invest with over 180 venture capital partners.  Plug and Play has helped grow market leaders such as PayPal, Danger, Google, DropBox, LendingClub, Zoosk, SoundHound, CreditSesame, Skytree, and has over 400 more early-stage startups in its portfolio.

Plug and Play

Innovate U.K. is a NPO that offers funding services to support science and technology innovations. The organization offers services and information on births, deaths, marriages, business, self-employed, childcare, parenting, citizenship, law, disabled persons, transportation, education, environment, housing, money, tax, travel, immigration, and jobs. Innovate U.K. is based in Swindon.

Innovate UK

Innovation SuperNetwork is the brand of a project part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Innovation SuperNetwork

Modality is a provider of primary health care and community services across the UK.

Modality Partnership

Holly Health

Holly Health helps individuals to change their health intentions into clear daily actions, for mental and physical wellbeing. The service is fully digital, yet personalised and compassionate, using proprietary AI systems, to mimic the role of a human health coach. Rated within the top 3 health apps for weight management, stress reduction, wellness and sleep, by ORCHA (the world's leading health app evaluation organisation), with a score of 89%!  Having launched internationally to consumers in Summer 2021, the Holly Health team is on a mission to support 5 million people by 2025. Holly Health is currently rolling out with primary care practices in the UK, with over 100 partnerships already in place. Reach out to hello@hollyhealth.io to find out more.

Founded in the UK, Holly Health is an AI-powered digital coaching app that helps users with health issues related to sleep, stress, wellbeing, and weight management. Its treatment methods incorporate mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, gamification, and nudge therapy. The virtual health coach app is developed based on over a thousand hours of clinical, psychological and end-user feedback. It aims to achieve a user base of five million individuals by 2025.

A new industry proving that digital connectivity and mental health can co-exist.

Digital Wellness

Introducing Holly Health ROI Calculator | Holly Health posted on the topic

Founded in the UK, Holly Health is an AI-powered digital coaching app that helps users with health issues related to sleep, stress, wellbeing, and weight management. Its treatment methods incorporate mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, gamification, and nudge therapy. The virtual health coach app is developed based on over a thousand hours of clinical, psychological and end-user feedback. It aims to achieve a user base of five million individuals by 2025.The company operates a B2B2C through employers, clinicians, coaches/trainers, nutritionists, and offers services directly to users via the app as well.Key partnerships and customersIn July 2022, the company announced a partnership with Age UK Lewisham and Southwark to run an 18-month pilot program, aiming to help 6,000 individuals between 50 and 70 years old to better manage their own health and wellbeing through Holly Health’s app.

Headspace is a digital wellness company that delivers meditation programs through a smartphone app. The company was founded by Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk, and Richard Pierson, a marketing and brand development professional. In addition to meditation, Headspace offers stress management programs, mindfulness activities, and sleep therapy solutions. Headspace also operates a business-to-business (B2B) focused “Headspace for Work” program with around 1,600 corporate customers as of January 2021, which has seen around 3x growth during 2020. Further, the company operates “Headspace for Health,” a program that develops US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved meditation tools to treat chronic diseases.In November 2022, the company launched a new platform that combines its product offerings with mental health platform Ginger’s <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5119">an entity it merged with in August 2021 </a>. The platform combines Headspace Health’s meditation and mindfulness services with Ginger’s on-demand coaching, therapy, and psychiatry services, to offer enterprise clients an integrated solution for supporting their employees.In September 2022, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12918">acquired fellow mindfulness platform Shine </a>for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition enhanced Headspace Health’s offerings and also helped grow Headspace’s member base. Select content from Shine was earmarked to be added to Headspace Health’s content library.In January 2023, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16052">expanded its geographical reach </a>to offer coaching, therapy, and employee assistance-related services to UK headquartered enterprise clients.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsAs of September 2024, the company has over 100 million users across 190 countries, with its brands “Headspace for Work” and “Ginger” being used by over 4,000 enterprises including Starbucks, Adobe, Delta Air Lines, Mattel, and Paramount. The company also partners with health plans, such as Cigna, to provide its services.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/36071">November 2024</a>, Headspace partnered with Hyatt, to help hotel guests improve their sleep quality while traveling. The collaboration featured a five-episode "Science Behind Sleep" video series filmed at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort, offering research-based tips for managing sleep struggles.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30378">June 2024</a>, Headspace partnered with Uwill, a mental health platform for colleges and students, to integrate Headspace's wellness services into Uwill's existing portal. The collaborative effort allowed Uwill's Urise program to incorporate Headspace's services, primarily meditation, yoga, and mindfulness offerings.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27330">March 2024</a>, Headspace partnered with Meta to launch "Headspace XR," available for an upfront fee of USD 30. Headspace XR provided guided mindfulness and meditation exercises led by the same instructors familiar to regular Headspace users. The exercises covered activities such as breathing techniques, body scans, and mood tracking. Additionally, it incorporated a social element, including interactive metaverse-style gaming in vivid environments.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19771">June 2023</a>, the company extended its partnership with with employee benefit management platform provider Virgin Pulse to integrate its platform with Virgin Pulse’s platform. The integration enabled employees enrolled in Virgin Pulse’s health benefit offerings to access the full suite of Headspace’s offerings as a part of Virgin Pulse’s Homebase for Health platform.

Headspace

Calm is a digital wellness company which offers guided meditations to make people happy as well as mindfulness and sleep programs through a smartphone app. Its audio content is designed to strengthen mental fitness and address mental health challenges such as stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression. The company started out as a website in 2011 where users were trained to stare at a screen and listen to waves on a beach for two minutes without touching their mouse. In February 2013, more content was added and the company launched a mobile app.&nbsp;In October 2022, the company launched a new clinical mental health offering called “Calm Health,” marking its expansion into the mental health space. The new solution provides condition-specific programs designed to bridge mental and physical care and includes tools for communication with providers and medication tracking. This solution was created for the company by Ripple Health, which was acquired by Calm in February 2022.As of 2024, Calm reported over 100 million downloads and more than 1.5 million five-star reviews. The app is available on iOS, Android, and desktop platforms. Calm operates on a freemium model with paid subscriptions unlocking full access to features. In 2023, an annual subscription cost USD 69.99, with monthly and lifetime options also available for USD 5.83 and USD 399.99, respectively. Key customers and partnershipsCalm offers content in English, Spanish, French, and German and operates Calm Business, a business-to-business (B2B) covering over 10 million employees across 3,500+ organizations as of September 2024.Calm gained significant traction in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdowns. It became the most downloaded digital wellness app during April 2020 with 3.9 million downloads worldwide, including 1.6 million downloads in the US. Kaiser Permanente, a large managed care service provider, provided Calm free for its 12.4 million members in May 2019. Calm also partnered with CNN on the 2020 US presidential election day to play the sound of rain hitting leaves on air, a marketing effort that went viral on social media. As of September 2024, the app had 150 million+ downloads.As of December 2022, the company has partnered with over 20 brands to collaborate and provide its services through sales partnerships. These brands include Xbox, Amazon, YouTube, Adidas, Fitbit, and American Express.&nbsp;In October 2022, Calm partnered with <a href="https://news.adidas.com/partnerships/adidas-and-calm-unite-to-progress-sports-performance-through-mental-wellbeing/s/48baf8f2-f856-4313-91cf-71bf7238faea">Adidas</a> to progress sport performances through mental well-being. Another partnership is with <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/20/lyra-partners-with-calm-to-bring-meditation-to-mental-health-service.html">Lyra Health</a> to combat stress and burnout and support resilience-building in the workplace.

Calm

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 Simple Habit is a guided meditation service provider, which offers bite sized, five-minute long meditation sessions through an app targeting people with busy schedules. The company also offers mindfulness, sleep, and wellness programs. As of November 2020, Simple Habit offered over 2,000 sessions designed to help users sleep, reduce anxiety, and get over relationship issues. The content is organized by occasion, such as commuting, going to sleep or preparing for a meeting. 
 
 
 In June 2022 the company launched its Sleep Habit app, a virtual sleep clinic that helps users improve the quality of their sleep. The app uses clinically validated approaches to improve sleep quality and treat issues such as insomnia via methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy. 
 
 
 As of September 2022, Simple Habit claims to have a 7 million users between both of its apps. 
 
 
 
 
 In November 2018, Simple Habit raised USD 10 million in a Series A round led by Foundation Capital, bringing the company’s total funding to USD 12.6 million. The company used the funds to expand its library of guided meditation sessions and to add audio content led by therapists and executive coaches. As of late 2018, the app was reported to sign up as many as 30,000 new users per week. As of November 2020, Simple Habit reported having helped helped over five million people reduce burnout through its app’s services.
 
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Simple Habit

Insight Timer is a company which offers guided meditation, yoga, and sleep programs through a smartphone app. It also offers free interactive live sessions with teachers, performers, and therapists through the app and web. The company’s business-to-business (B2B) offering, “Circles for teams”, targets enterprise customers to help bring employees together to practice group meditations, chat with each other, and recommend content. In October 2020, Insight Timer began offering free, daily live yoga classes from instructors based on a pay-what-you-can model.Insight Timer's core offering is its extensive free content library, which includes over 140,000 guided meditations, talks, and music tracks from thousands of teachers and experts worldwide. The app features a customizable meditation timer, allowing users to set session lengths and choose from various ambient sounds and ending bells.The majority of the content is available for free, and users can sign up for a premium version priced at USD 9.99 per month or USD 59.99 per year, as of August 2024. Premium users get access to content such as Insight courses and the ability to download content. This subscription unlocks additional features such as offline listening, the ability to fast-forward and rewind meditations, and access to over 1,000 in-depth courses on various topics. The app also offers live events, including yoga classes and meditation sessions, as well as a community space where users can connect with like-minded individuals and join discussion groups.Insight Timer collaborates with meditation teachers, psychologists, neuroscientists, and experts from institutions such as Stanford, Harvard, and the University of Oxford to provide content for its platform and with musicians to offer ambient and relaxation music. Insight Timer has positioned itself as a platform that supports its content creators with a revenue-sharing model that distributes 50% of course income to teachers. As of 2022, the app reported having approximately 12,000 teachers and yoga instructors contributing content to its platform. As of November 2020, the app had a 16% 30-day retention rate, more than double the average retention rate of 7.7% for top 100 apps in Apple’s App Store.&nbsp; Key customers and partnershipsThe app had over 29 million users as of September 2024. In April 2021, Insight Timer partnered with <a href="https://www.vondereurope.com/magazine/brand-partnerships-insight-timer">Vonder</a> to provide curated content, including different wellness classes and weekly group meditations. The company had also partnered with <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gisele-bundchen-partners-with-insight-timer-to-encourage-millions-to-meditate-for-free-301126987.html">Gisele Bündchen</a> in September 2020 to encourage people to meditate for free.

Insight Timer

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 Big Sky Health is the developer of the Oak Meditation breathing app. Oak Meditation offers guided and unguided meditations, sleep meditations, meditation timers, yogic exercises for breathing, animated instructions, and music tracks. The company is headed by Mike Maser, an entrepreneur who was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Most of the companies services are offered free of charge with in-app purchases ranging from USD 5.99 to USD 38.99.
 
 
 
 
 In addition to Oak meditation, Big Sky also offers a fasting app called Zero and an alcohol moderation app called Less. In May 2020, Big Sky raised USD 8 million in Series A funding in a round led by Greycroft with participation from existing investors True Ventures and Trinity Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to USD 12.2 million. Big Sky Health expects to use the funds to expand its staff and boost customer acquisition.
 
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Big Sky Health

Apps that provide relaxation, stress reduction and non-therapeutic mental health support via meditation-related techniques.

These apps aim to increase users’ body and brain functions including memory and attention to detail with microlearning, gamification, and journaling techniques.

Helps users analyze and address sleep disorders with wearable tech, music and sound therapy, and storytelling.

Apps that provide virtual training programs, track workouts, and provide guides for nutrition.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their product offering for Digital Wellness

Some digital wellness providers provider VR/AR experiences for meditations

Some companies offer personalized care/meditation plans, workout regimens, or treatments for sleep disorders

Offers app-based platforms that improve health and wellness

Wellness providers use GenAI to enhance their solutions

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Medical coaching app Holly Health has secured GBP 650,000 (USD 815,685) in a combination of equity and grant funding from Innovate UK, Innovation SuperNetwork, Plug and Play Ventures, and Modality Partnership. This latest round boosts the firm's total financing to GBP 2.1 million (USD 2.6 million). However, the specific deployment of the new funds has not been disclosed by the company.
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Holly Health

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