{"id":340485,"date":"2017-05-10T01:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T17:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1487174"},"modified":"2017-05-10T01:00:46","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T17:00:46","slug":"y-combinator-backed-mindfulness-app-simple-habit-raises-2-5-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/y-combinator-backed-mindfulness-app-simple-habit-raises-2-5-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Y Combinator-backed mindfulness app Simple Habit raises $2.5 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Mindfulness app\u00a0Simple Habit<\/a>\u00a0was built to help users relieve stress and build healthier lives with more than 1,000 guided meditation sessions available to users. To continue growing, the company has raised $2.5 million\u00a0from investors that include New Enterprise Associates, Fabrice Grinda\u2019s FJ Labs, Foundation Capital, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston\u00a0and Gusto CEO Josh Reeves.<\/p>\n

Simple Habit founder Yunha Kim got into meditation after burning out at\u00a0her last startup, Locket. That company\u00a0sold to mobile shopping app Wish<\/a>\u00a0a couple of years ago, and Kim spent the next half year trying a variety of techniques for stress and anxiety relief.<\/p>\n

She settled on meditation as being most effective for her, and started building a\u00a0service that would\u00a0allow anyone to take a few minutes out of their day to meditate.<\/p>\n

Since then, the idea behind Simple Habit and the underlying platform has grown. Rather than provide a one-size-fits-all guided meditation service, Simple Habit seeks to provide a wide range of sessions\u00a0that\u00a0focus on\u00a0when, where and why its users might want\u00a0to take a meditation break.<\/p>\n

There are more than 1,000 sessions available in the app,\u00a0including those for when someone is \u201cFeeling Under The Weather,\u201d when they need \u201cSleep Therapy,\u201d when they need a better \u201cStart to the Day\u201d or even just the popular \u201cMeditation for Engineers.\u201d Behind those sessions are a group of independent\u00a0mindfulness teachers who guide users through the short audio sessions.<\/p>\n

Simple Habit runs on a subscription model, charging $11.99 a month or $99 a year for premium access to its entire inventory of guided meditation sessions. And it shares its revenue with the mindfulness teachers who provide the content, splitting things based on the popularity of their sessions.<\/p>\n

After trying to build an advertising-based business with Locket, Kim said it was important to monetize early and build a scalable business model from the start. At the same time, she was a little surprised by how much interest they got early on. Originally started as a side project while Kim was in business school, it grew quickly enough that she decided to postpone her studies and take it on full-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we\u2019ve learned is that people are really interested in investing in mindfulness,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n

With the funding, Kim plans to expand the company\u2019s engineering team and work on adding new features to its service. Now available on iOS, Android and the Web, Simple Habit is\u00a0looking to add more content and provide the ability to download sessions and meditate while offline, and to also provide more personalization and recommendations to users.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Mindfulness app Simple Habit was built to help users relieve stress and build healthier lives with more than 1,000 guided meditation sessions available to users. To continue growing, the company has raised $2.5 million from investors that include New Enterprise Associates, Fabrice Grinda’s FJ Labs, Foundation Capital, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston and Gusto CEO Josh Reeves. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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