Impact Venture Capital is a first-time venture fund managed by seasoned general partners.  The firm is headquartered in Northern California but has a global investment mandate.  Impact Venture Capital works to invest alongside corporate venture groups in early stage information technology startups, with a focus on Telecom, Media, Civic Tech, Cyber Security, FinTech, and Data Analytics.   Impact Venture Capital also manages the Entrepreneur’s Showcase Innovation Programs.  These programs are designed to improve the local entrepreneurial ecosystem by igniting, accelerating, and capitalizing participating startups. These founders are building companies to address global challenges in the areas of clean energy, food and water, healthcare, and government.  Dixon Doll (founder of DCM Partners and former chair of the NVCA), Eric Ball (former Treasurer of Oracle Corporation), and Jack Crawford (serial entrepreneur and founding partner of Velocity Venture Capital) serve as the firm’s General Partners.  For more information, please visit: impactvc.com

Impact Venture Capital

The hardest thing for early stage B2B Startups is to find the first customer who can validate your Product Market Fit and grow your business together. Since 2011, they have created more than 100 partnerships between startups and Fortune 500 companies by leveraging their CXO network with Global Conglomerates.

DNX Ventures

Seed firm with ~$140m AUM across two funds. Leading pre-Seed & Seed rounds across the US. We invest U$500k-U$2.5m in companies raising U$500k-U$5m.

ANIMO Ventures

U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) is a venture capital partnership, helping entrepreneurs transform their ideas and efforts into world-changing companies. The firm focuses on early-stage ventures in information technology and health care, where innovation is unbridled and has led to the creation of economic wealth and millions of jobs over the past thirty-plus years of the firm's existence.  Areas of particular interest to our investment professionals include enterprise software, IT security, consumer internet, mobile, and e-commerce, healthcare, and IT-enabled healthcare services. The USVP team consists of former entrepreneurs, technologists, corporate executives, financial professionals, and industry domain experts.

U.S. Venture Partners

Madrona Venture Group is a Seattle-based venture capital firm. The firm prefers to invest in businesses that are involved in information technology, e-commerce, digital media, advertising, software, gaming, data, analytics, mobile, and infrastructure.

Madrona

Synetro is an active seed and early stage investor in web based technology and business services companies. It also operates a private equity business focused on acquiring and turning around software, business services and manufacturing companies.

Synetro Group

Zoom Venture is a venture capital fund. Zoom Ventures seeks to invest with established financial and strategic leads in order to deliver its potential impact. The company focused on providing capital to startups in mobile technology, computer software, health tech, e-business, and e-commerce.

Zoom Ventures

Gaingels is a venture investment syndicate in service of the LGBT+ community and its allies, investing in companies with LGBT+ founders and C-suite leaders at all stages of growth, as well as in more established companies resolved on building more inclusive teams, with a global portfolio of 130+ companies and $70M in deployed investment capital to date.  The Gaingels network also actively supports its portfolio in identifying and recruiting diverse talent to their C-suite and board leadership teams and fosters a vibrant global community of industry leaders, investors, operators, and entrepreneurs who share a common goal for positive social change through business and successful investments.

Gaingels

Propel(x) is an angel investing platform focused on funding early-stage companies that are built around scientific discovery.  The company is driven by a mission to help propel mankind by enabling investments in technologies that matter.  Propel(x) was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Propel(X)

Sure Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm investing in the insurtech industry. The firm invests with a mission to enable peace of mind for all individuals and businesses.  Its main areas of focus are insurance, aging, mental health, wealth management, and related sectors.

Sure Ventures

RingCentral Ventures will focus on supporting entrepreneurs and early-stage start-ups.

RingCentral Ventures

PeopleTech Angels is a syndicate for PeopleTech Partners (PTP) and has been created to allow its advisors and PTP’s broader network to invest in select PTP portfolio companies. PTP is a network of over 175 high-level People leaders committed to accelerating solutions that drive the future of work. Each quarter, PTP selects 4 companies from applicants for its program. PTP's portfolio companies include Cleo, Spring Health, Galileo, Origin, and Urbandoor.

PeopleTech Angels

TaskHuman

TaskHuman is a real-time digital coaching platform that offers 1-on-1 interactive sessions with live wellness coaches through video calls. With this platform, users can discover and connect with the world’s most comprehensive global network of coaches, instructors, and specialists covering over 1,000 aspects of one's well-being, such as physical fitness, mental well-being, spiritual, emotional, financial, career & leadership coaching, and more.

California-based TaskHuman provides one-on-one virtual coaching for individuals on over thousands of topics such as mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being, work-life balance, sound healing, meditation, sleep, breath work, nutrition, financial planning, and travel planning. The company operates via its app and has more than 2250 coaches, instructors, and specialists across 80 countries.&nbsp;

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

Digital Wellness

SalesTechStar Interview with Matt Prostko, Head of Sales at TaskHuman

California-based TaskHuman provides one-on-one virtual coaching for individuals on over thousands of topics such as mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being, work-life balance, sound healing, meditation, sleep, breath work, nutrition, financial planning, and travel planning. The company operates via its app and has more than 2250 coaches, instructors, and specialists across 80 countries.&nbsp;The company operates both a B2B2C and D2C business model, offering services via employers and directly to users. As of September 2024, it charged users a fee-for-service of USD 80 per session for a standard single session and USD 120 for a session on a custom topic. Key customers and partnershipsTaskHuman serves a range of clients, including individual users and corporate customers. Its platform is used by employees from various organizations to enhance their skills and well-being. A notable corporate client is Juniper Networks, which has leveraged TaskHuman to surpass 1 million minutes of one-on-one coaching.

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

<div>
 
 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.
 
</div>

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

<div>
 
 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.
 
</div>

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

TaskHuman

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless