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| Image Credits: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / Getty Images |
Calm, a well-known mediation software, raised a $2 billion valuation in new money. Since the firm was revealed to be hunting for up to $150 million at a value of $2.2 billion, the round was expected; perhaps Calm will follow Robinhood's steps and add a second tranche to the round in time.
The investment was led by prior investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, and also saw interest, among others, from Insight, TPG and Salesforce CEO and new Slack owner Marc Benioff.
It is not shocking that Calm was able to secure more money. The business has a history of rapid sales growth to boot, and is reportedly profitable. And the funding comes after companies focusing on behavioural health have done well from the standpoint of venture capital as a group.
The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly also added to Calm's popularity as an investment. Researchers have cautioned from the beginning of the psychological toll that a pandemic might have on mankind. A new Pew Research report indicated that at this period, people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic will experience higher levels of distress. For those who are unemployed, Competitor Headspace has offered an annual subscription to its website for free.
The startups offers a customer service for about $70 per year or $15 a month. And the start-up has set up a "Calm for Business" corporate arm, which is sure to offer sales stability that improves its customer activities.
Calm detailed a variety of nearly helpful growth indicators as part of a release surrounding today's coverage. There are more than 100 million users of the service, up from 40 million downloads in February 2019. It also increased from 1 million paid users in the same period to 4 million paying users (we asked if that data was inclusive of any Calm for Business customers, a question Calm did not answer).
Other questions from TechCrunch about the environment, sales growth and efficiency of the organisation relative to its pre-COVID strategy also went unanswered.
According to Crunchbase numbers, Calm and rival provider Headspace have now raised a combined $434 million, underscoring how enticing their models have proved to venture capitalists. In the aftermath of its latest capital event, Calm is contemplating purchasing smaller firms, according to a Bloomberg interview.
Regardless, Calm now has a refreshed chest of war going into 2021 and a hunting schedule. A headline or two should produce that.
