Happy Not Perfect, a mental health platform created by founder Poppy Jamie and favored by the beauty industry, has been acquired by JumpStart Games Inc., the company behind the digital game Neopets.
Happy Not Perfect is designed to more easily integrate mental health into daily routines through daily affirmations, short audio and meditation sessions, and five-minute daily mental health exercises. Over time, the 5-year-old company has made a name for itself within the fashion and beauty industries through various product partnerships with saks fifth avenue and Erno Laszlo. Notably, Jamie co-founded the handbag and accessories brand Pop & Suki, along with her friend Suki Waterhouse.
Mental health, part of a broader indoor-outdoor beauty and wellness movement, has recently gained more traction and discussion within the beauty industry. Brands like Rare Beauty and Benefit Cosmetics have heavily invested in mental health awareness. It is part of a greater understanding of how mental health manifests itself physically, such as through acne, hair loss, or premature graying. It is also a response to the current Mental health crisis affecting young Americansa group influential in directing what matters to the beauty industry.
“[There has been] a complete change in the cultural understanding of mental health. Everybody knows that mental health is important, that’s not even the conversation anymore,” Jamie said. “Because we can’t see our mind, it’s the first thing we forget to take care of. We have a much more ingrained behavior around the daily care of our skin or beauty. The idea that you need to meditate 20 minutes a day sets you up for failure and then you feel guilty. But by combining behaviors that we’re already doing, like skin care [and mindfulness]we are more likely to [both].”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed and Jamie declined to share any outside fundraising to date. Happy Not Perfect offers free services and a premium subscription for $9.99 per month or $59.99 for a one-year subscription. But the business grew by licensing its technology and features to companies like education technology company Edmodo, which could in turn integrate the services into its own app and platform. Jamie declined to share Happy Not Perfect’s current active user base because its potential reach and user base is beyond its own mobile app and difficult to measure. Jamie will remain as a consultant at Happy Not Perfect, focused on content development.
The business-to-business element was appealing to Neopets, which has a largely female audience, with a large number of people aged 18-40. Neopets plans to integrate Happy Not Perfect into their game from now on, making it available to their 69 million accounts; the standalone app will also remain available. With the acquisition, Jamie said Happy Not Perfect will be able to further its goal of democratizing mental health support.
“Working together with Happy Not Perfect and the Neopets community, our goal is to continue to support initiatives that promote mental health awareness and stress relief,” said James Czulewicz, president and CEO of JumpStart Games Inc. “Resources like Happy Not Perfect app are exactly what we want to share and bring to the community.”
