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This meditation app is now worth $250 million and has Trump-related stress to thank (CNBC):

“Meditation start-up Calm was so successful during a chaotic and stressful 2017 that Apple recognized it as the app of the year.

“Well done, Calm,” Apple said in December.

Now the San Francisco-based company, which to date has only raised $1.5 million in seed financing, is being rewarded by investors. Insight Venture Partners is leading a funding round that values Calm at about $250 million, according to sources familiar with the matter. The total funding will exceed $25 million, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the deal hasn’t closed and won’t be announced for a few weeks.

Founded in 2012 by Michael Acton Smith, who previously created video game company Mind Candy, and serial entrepreneur Alex Tew, Calm more than tripled its sales last year and was generating $40 million in annual revenue by the end of 2017, Acton Smith told CNBC in a December interview. That number has since jumped to $60 million, sources said … As of three months ago, Calm had about 20 employees running what Acton Smith described as a very profitable digital business with grand ambitions to expand well beyond guided meditation and become a giant consumer brand. Physical world products like books, clothing, a Calm Hotel and perhaps a Calm Island someday are all part of the vision. He called Calm the “Nike of the mind.”

News in context

The State of Mindfulness Science: 10 Key Research Findings to Encourage and Guide your Meditation Practice in 2018
Learning how to mindfully navigate mindfulness apps
Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
Digital brain health firm Headspace raises $34 million to scale up meditation service and transform mind health
Digital Mental Health: the Hurt, the Hype, the Hope, with Dr. Tom Insel
Infographic on the Digital Brain Health Market 2012–2020

Read more about this at sharpbrains.com.