Headspace Health is acquiring Shine, a mental health and wellness app dedicated to providing an inclusive mental health experience for the BIPOC community, the company Announced Thursday. The finanacial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Headspace Health says the acquisition of the New York-based company will expand its ability to provide more inclusive self-care content to its growing global base of members.
Founded in 2016, Shine has more than 45,000 paid subscribers and has reached more than six million people by offering self-directed content. The company also serves more than 90 business customers with its Shine at Work offering. Shine offers daily mediations, self-care courses and personalized support, along with virtual workshops organized by external experts and their community.
“The acquisition of the Shine app underscores the continued importance of infusing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging into the fabric of everything we do,” Headspace Health CEO Russell Glass said in a statement. “By integrating both the strong content and talented team at Shine, we will be able to collectively scale the diversity of offerings and experiences we can bring to our customers and members.”
Headspace Health says select Shine content will be integrated into its offerings for consumers and businesses, including Headspace in-app experiences, webinars and more. Once Headspace Health integrates Shine into its services, Shine will no longer be operating as a separate company, a Headspace Health spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. The company anticipates that the Shine app will stop working later this year. Existing Shine members will have free access to the Headspace app.
Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Shine marah lidey Y Naomi Hirabayashi You will assume leadership roles on Headspace Health’s product and marketing teams. Headspace Health says a team of engineers, marketing and customer success leaders from Shine will join Headspace Health to enhance the company’s mental health strategy and content.
“After six years of building Shine, we are thrilled to join Headspace Health in scaling up the urgent work of closing the mental health equity gap, something Naomi and I have often felt firsthand,” Lidey said in a statement. . “We believe that everyone deserves to feel included in their mental health journey, and with our combined team at Headspace Health, we are on an exciting path to achieving that shared vision.”
Acquisition occurs as Headspace and Ginger merged last year to form Headspace Health, which is valued at $3 billion. The merger brought together Ginger’s therapy and coaching offerings with Headspace’s mindfulness and meditation services.
Headspace Health’s acquisition of Shine marks its second acquisition this year. in January, the company acquired Sayana, an AI-powered mental health and wellness company, for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2018 and backed by Y Combinator in 2020, Sayana leverages chat-based sessions with an AI personality that encourages users to track their moods. Headspace Health plans to disable Sayana as a separate experience and move users to Headspace Health once it finishes integrating the core capabilities of the app into the Headspace and Ginger experience.
