Calm, the subscription-based mindfulness app, today announced its first foray into a clinical mental health offering: Calm Health. Offered through payers, providers and self-insured employers, Calm Health includes condition-specific programs designed to “bridge the gap between mental and physical healthcare,” according to the company.
Calm Health doesn’t replace Calm’s previous employer offering, Calm for Business, but builds off of Calm’s acquisition of tech startup Ripple Health Group in early February. Using Ripple’s technology, Calm Health connects users with different healthcare options, starting with support for patients suffering from anxiety or depression or using programs in between therapy sessions.
Calm plans to eventually add mental health programs for people with physical conditions like hypertension, obesity, heart disease and cancer.
“Mental health has risen to the forefront of our nation’s health concerns,” Calm CEO David Ko said in a statement. “From the tolls of the pandemic to financial uncertainty and workplace anxieties, people have turned to Calm over the past ten years to manage their mental health. As we move into healthcare, our goal is to reach even more people with clinical mental health tools and destigmatize the importance of regular mental healthcare.”
The rollout of Calm Health comes after a bit of a rough patch for Calm, which laid off 20% of its staff in August as usage fell from a pandemic peak. Prior to the layoffs, Ripple CEO David Ko became Calm’s chief executive, signaling the company’s ambitions to move into new market opportunities.
As of December 2020, Calm was valued at $2 billion and had raised $218 million from investors including Insight Venture Partners, Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures and Creative Artists Agency. It competes against rivals including Headspace Health, the result of a 2021 merger between mental health company Ginger and mindfulness-focused Headspace. Headspace Health recently acquired Shine and Sayana as the macroeconomic climate spurred consolidation in the health tech space.