Calm, the meditation app achieves billion dollar evaluation

Meditation has shown to have profoundly positive effects on the human mind. Repeated researches and studies have shown various forms of meditation to relieve stress, anxiety, blood pressure, and improve focus, sleep and concentration. Furthermore, these studies have been published by leading subject matter experts from some of the top universities and research centers. Thought to have originated in ancient India, mediation rapidly spread all across the world, riding the wave of globalization and social media popularity.

The United States alone has several million practitioners of numerous forms of meditation. Aiming to capitalize on this vast market, Calm, an app for guided meditation just raised an amazing $88 million in a Series B round to achieve the coveted billion dollar evaluation. Calm was launched back in 2012 and managed to raise a cool $27 million last year.

According to a report by the American Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the number of people who took up meditation has more than tripled since last year. Riding the wave of the new fad, Calm offers a number of tools for wellness in its app, of which guided meditation is its main claim to fame. Furthermore, Calm has also partnered with American Airlines to offer some of its features on the in-flight entertainment system. The app has seen astounding growth, boasting of over 40 million downloads and more than 1 million paying customers. Co-founder and co-CEO Alex Tew said in a statement that the money from the latest round will go toward expanding to international markets and creating more content.