Have you finally decided to look after your mental health? One preliminary thing we can suggest is to bring into practice the habit of meditating. Now, it doesn’t have to include incense sticks, elaborate arrangements, and auras. You need to bust this myth and we think headspace will help you in doing exactly that.
Headspace is a private healthcare company that expertise in mindfulness and Meditation. It was co-founded by Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson in the year 2010. The companies headquarter is currently in Santa Monica, California, The US.
Headspace gives guided contemplation assets on the web, open to clients through the organization’s site and utilizing a versatile application on the iPhone and Android stages. Clients can get to ten days of free content, after which they have the alternative to take out a month to month or yearly membership or proceed with the free preliminary material.
In June 2014, Headspace dispatched variant 2 of its platform. Content in adaptation 2 of the application zeroed in on four zones whenever clients have finished the Foundation stage: wellbeing, execution, connections, and Headspace Pro. The application utilizes gamification to urge clients to finish and dominate a degree of reflection before proceeding onward to a further developed area. Every meeting is around ten minutes in length, typically in the sound configuration.
About the founders
Andy Puddicombe
Born 23 September, 48 years old Andy is a teacher of mindfulness and meditation. He is also a public speaker and author. He was a Buddhist monk who also has a degree in Circus Arts. In the year 1994, he gave up studies in the field of sports science and traveled to Asia. He trained in meditation in countries like Russia, Thailand, Australia, Nepal, Myanmar, and India. Before ending his monastic commitment he taught meditation in Moscow. He wanted to make meditation beneficial and relevant to as many people as possible. He set up a private meditation practice in the year 2006 and worked as a mindfulness consultant for the next four years. Andy has been contributing to BBC since 2013 on matters of mental health, lifestyle, mindfulness, and meditation. Puddicome also gave a TED talk in the year 2012 where he focused on the importance of meditating every day.
Richard Pierson
Currently residing in the US, he completed his degree in Media and Cultural Studies from Nottingham Trent University in the year 2002. Before co-founding Headspace he worked as a Graduate Trainee and Account Manager at McCann London for 1 year and as Head of Business Development at Bartle Bogle Hegarty for 4 years. He met Andy when he was suffering from extreme social anxiety and mental health issue. Meditation changed his life and he eventually decided to make it available to people who can benefit from it.
How headspace came into being
When Andy and Richard met, Richard was going through a rough patch. Certain events in Andy’s life lead him into the world of meditation and mindfulness. When Andy came back to the UK to set up a meditation business, he wasn’t very well appreciated in his home country as they saw it as a mode of escapism from reality and delusional.
Richard was one of the strugglings who approached Andy and booked an appointment. He had made a name for himself in the field of advertising but it had taken its toll. He continuously dealt with social anxiety and had no one trustworthy to confide in. Once Richard realized how much of a help meditation was to his mental state, he was extremely eager to go into business. He wanted Andy on board to spread the word.
They both swapped skills. Andy used to teach him meditation and Richard used to come up with ideas for Andy on how to make a name for himself. They made an app named “Headspace” that year by using the money that they earned by doing events around the UK by 2010.
They thank their friends who were supportive of their idea and lent a recording studio and an office for free.
Headspace investors
In the beginning, the company was largely self-funded but they started taking investment in 2014 to increase the business and app. It now has more than $75M of external. The majority of stakes however are still owned by Richard and Andy. The company at this stage has business clients like General Electric, Unilever, Linkedin, and Google for whom they provide their services. Headspace also works with prestigious universities of the US like Stanford and Harvard on studies related to the health benefits of meditation.
Headspace currently has a total funding amount of $215.9M which it raised in over 8 rounds of funding. The last funding which was a Series C round was on Jun 11, 2020. There are 21 investors in the company and Spectrum Equity and Times Bridge are the most recent ones. According to PrivCorporation as of Jun 11, 2020 Headspace has a valuation in the range of $500M to $1Billion. In 2018, Alpine.AI was acquired by Headspace. Some of the lead investors of Headspace include Pacific Western Bank, The Chernin Group, Spectrum Equity, Times bridge, Advancit Capital, Waverly Capital, and Next Play Ventures.
Headspace Business model
The plan of action of Headspace depends on three income pillars:
- Subscription fee that allows the customer to unlock premium meditation content
- Business to Business programs for companies that are willing to introduce the concept of mindfulness to employees
- Headspace Health is an FDA-approved program related to wellness.
This business model has been proven successful for the company as it successfully raised $170 million in funding and has a download count of 62 million in 190 countries.
How Headspace Works
- Initially, you need to sign up and create your account. Headspace offers a 10 days free basic meditation course which helps the user to develop a habit.
- You can choose to go premium and avail the whole archive that has focused lessons, sleep-casts, minis, etc. all narrated in the soothing voice of Andy Puddicombe.
- Headspace also has a live meditation feature that lets you interact with people meditating with you in the session.
Headspace Technical Stats
Headspace is built using HTML5, Google Analytics, jQuery, and other such technologies that are 51 in number. It has a monthly download growth of 61.97% on the application stores available on Android and iOS. 52% of its customers are from the United States, 26% from the United Kingdom, 4% from Canada, 3% from Germany, and 3% from Australia.
Headspace future Goals
The company is continuously working hard to produce new content to beat the competitors in the market. It is creating content both offline and online to distribute it to users. They did a partnership with Spotify that allowed bundled subscriptions in 2016. The company has already partnered with 7 airlines and is looking forwards to expanding it to create in-flight Headspace content.
Headspace competitors
- Simple Habit
Simple Habit is one of Headspace’s top rivals. Simple Habit is a Private organization that was established in San Francisco, California in 2016. Straightforward Habit is in the Application Software field. Simple Habit has 280 fewer workers versus Headspace.
- Portal
It has different sounds that help people differently along side guided meditations. Portal’s audio also can be mixed with other apps in order that you continue relaxing while taking note of a podcast or reading your favorite book.
- Simple Habit
The app offers personalization because it asks the users to settle on topics that are interesting to them. The application is completely easy to use, modern and clean, and features a lot of free content. - Stop, Breathe, and Think
The most unique feature of this application is that asks how you’re feeling before you begin meditating both physically and mentally. This information is then wont to recommend yoga or meditation to the user. - 10% Happier
Just as being asked how frequently you’ve contemplated previously, why you would like to reflect and the way you have been feeling recently, you’ll likewise set suggestions to ensure you never miss a meeting
Latest about Headspace
Headspace in partnership with Netflix is all set to launch a show called Headspace Guide to Sleep and an interactive version of this how is set to release later in 2021. This show is produced by Vox Media. This show will feature 20-minute sessions that will be narrated by Andy Puddicombe and he will be guiding the listeners through different techniques used in mindfulness. It will be dubbed and subtitled in over 30 languages.
Colgate-Palmolive also partnered with Headspace to help Hum, which is a rechargeable toothbrush for adults with Bluetooth connectivity, users have mindful moments while starting their day.
