Meditation app Headspace raises $93 million in equity and debt to accelerate clinical validation and geographic expansion

Head­space rais­es $93 mil­lion in equi­ty and debt as it pur­sues clin­i­cal val­i­da­tion for mind­ful­ness (TechCrunch):

“Head­space, the Los Ange­les-based mind­ful­ness and med­i­ta­tion com­pa­ny locked in a bit­ter com­pet­i­tive strug­gle with Calm for lead­er­ship in the men­tal well­ness world, has raised new cap­i­tal to try to take the pole position.

The com­pa­ny has just closed on $93 mil­lion in new equi­ty and debt financ­ing from a slew of investors as it pur­sues a num­ber of clin­i­cal stud­ies that could pro­vide sci­en­tif­ic val­i­da­tion for the some­what neb­u­lous claims around the ben­e­fits asso­ci­at­ed with mind­ful­ness and meditation.

That clin­i­cal val­i­da­tion can also unlock new dol­lars in the form of gov­ern­ment pay­ments for mind­ful­ness ther­a­pies that could be used to treat a vari­ety of con­di­tions. It also makes more valid the company’s pitch to com­pa­nies as a use­ful com­po­nent of an employ­ee ben­e­fit pro­gram … Headspace’s new cash comes from invest­ment firm blisce, with par­tic­i­pa­tion from Waver­ly Cap­i­tal, Times Bridge (the invest­ment arm of The Times Group of India), The Chernin Group, Spec­trum Equi­ty and Advancit Cap­i­tal. A $40 mil­lion debt financ­ing from Pacif­ic West­ern Bank sup­ple­ment­ed the $53 mil­lion in equity.”

News in Context:

• The State of Mind­ful­ness Sci­ence: 10 Key Research Find­ings to Encour­age and Guide your Med­i­ta­tion Practice
• Study finds a key ingre­di­ent in mind­ful­ness train­ing: Accep­tance (not acquiescence)
• Want to feel more Calm, get some Head­space, and prac­tice Mind­ful­ness Daily?
• Med­i­ta­tion app Calm said to be rais­ing $25M to become the “Nike of the mind”
• Will per­son­al­ized med­i­ta­tion apps be able to repli­cate the expe­ri­ence of work­ing with a coach?