Mumbai: Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness and meditation, today announced an investment from Times Bridge as its Series C funding comprised of USD 53 million of equity from participating investors and USD 40 million of debt capital.
Times Bridge, a global investments and partnerships firm, will enable Headspace to launch and scale in India, the world’s second-largest internet market.
Times Bridge has previously invested in and partnered with many market-creating, mission-driven companies, including Airbnb, Coursera, Houzz, Smule, Uber and Wattpad.
As a world-leading platform for mindfulness and meditation, Headspace has more than 62 million users across 190 countries. Headspace is transforming the well-being and mindfulness space, with innovative partnerships with a range of global companies including Nike, Google, Starbucks, Hyatt and the NBA.
Times Bridge will enable Headspace’s launch in the Indian market, accelerate its growth and advance its mission. By providing subcontinent-wide market leadership and drawing on the unmatched reach of Times Group assets, Times Bridge’s initiatives will ensure Headspace’s product, partnerships and positioning are optimized for adoption and impact across India.
India is known for centuries of heritage in meditation and holistic living. Headspace will enable Indian users to integrate the practice of mindfulness and meditation into their daily lives, through easily-accessible mindfulness routines, including sleep, movement and meditation, among other features.
Even today, Indian users can explore bite-sized audio sessions on everything from focus and productivity to stress and anxiety. The courses are led by the guiding voice of co-founder AndyPuddicombe, a former Buddhist monk who spent ten years travelling around the world, culminating with ordination as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Northern India.
“Headspace’s mission is to improve the health and happiness of the world. While the scale and diversity of India is widely known, our opportunity to make a significant impact in the ancient home of meditation is unique. We are excited to pair this time-honoured 2,000-year-old practice and bring it to a large audience around the world. We are delighted to partner with Times Bridge and The Times Group to expand Headspace’s reach in the Indian market,” said Richard Pierson, Headspace co-founder and CEO.
“Times Bridge’s mission is to bring the world’s best ideas to India, and share India’s best insights with the world. Headspace is one of those bold, original trailblazer companies with founders and a wider team sincerely committed to a more mindful world, and to India in particular. We’re delighted to work with a partner that sees India holistically and is ambitious about its opportunity to create value across the subcontinent,” said Rishi Jaitly, CEO of Times Bridge.
Since inception, Headspace has been the most science-backed digital mindfulness product in the market. The company continues to lead the industry in efforts to scientifically validate the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, with one of the largest research pipelines of any digital health and wellness company, including over 70 clinical research studies conducted with academic partners – including Carnegie Mellon, University of California San Francisco, and Stanford University.
In collaboration with leading researchers, Headspace has pioneered some of the largest and most rigorous randomized controlled trials of mindfulness to date.