Urban Health creates world’s smartest wellness assistant as it secures $3.4m funding round
Bangalore, India
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August 17, 2022 11:43 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Digital wellness company Urban Health which helps people sleep better, relax and de-stress is today announcing a $3.4m seed funding round as they scale operations globally. Having grown quickly in the US with wide acclaim (4.8 star app rating) they will launch a more personalized service for users. The funding round was led by 3one4 Capital with participation from Venture Highway, Founder Bank Capital and Disney’s Ajay Arora.
The Urban Health app smart wellness assistant tracks sleep, steps and mindful minutes while using psychology, personal text-based health coaching and premium recorded audio sessions, to create personalized wellness plans for users to de-stress, relax, improve sleep quality and overall well-being. Meditation and sleep sessions offer guided mindfulness, daily motivation, guided sleep meditations and coaching by world-renowned experts, personalized for the way users live their life. In 2020, Urban raised a $400K pre-seed led by Venture Highway, taking their total funds raised to $3.8M.
Co-founders Kshitij Jaggi, Rishabh Sahu and Shivang were IIT Kanpur class fellows and established Urban in 2018 upon graduating. Kshitij was a keen user of fitness and wellness apps on his way to losing 20 kgs and Rishabh had been meditating since his teenage years. While Shivang was already coding tech for consumer products in less than a day, at record speeds. Their personal experiences led them to the problem of plenty: screen time, stress, information overdose, sugar, food, weight gain. The pandemic and customer feedback made them focus on stress, sleep and insomnia use cases and landed on wellness as a broader addressable market because it linked all the problems to each other.
Urban operates in an estimated $1.5 Trillion wellness market. Addressing burning consumer wellness issues of anxiety, sleep and lack of mental health infrastructure. National Institutes of Health says nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder. Nearly half of the world’s population does not get enough sleep. In addition to the detrimental effect on health, sleep deprivation carries high economic costs, estimated at $680 billion a year in five OECD countries including $400 billion for the United States and $60 billion for Germany.
Moreover, to better understand US mental health infrastructure: 40% of the US population live in a limited access area to such services and 60% of US counties have no psychiatrist. Demand outstrips supply by 25 times.
Kshitij Jaggi, co-founder at Urban commented: “We made a deep dive into this space and realized every customer's journey is different and everyone needs different kinds of assistance. This is at the heart of what we’ve built until now and where we will continue to innovate. Addressing different customer wellness needs and assisting members based on goals is key to what we do. We assist with deep insights, nudging our members to take the right actions at the right time.”
Urban Health analyzed user outcomes over a 4-week usage period and found 85% reported improvement in over well-being. Outcomes included better sleep, less stress and more relaxed state of mind in members. The company plans to further invest in efficacy and support clinical studies in this direction.
“Just five minutes of mindfulness and meditation per day can improve your life through stress relief and improved sleep. By helping users stay calm and relaxed, it has increased self-awareness and their sense of perspective. Urban Health brings wellness to your pocket and on the go” added Kshitij Jaggi.
Company became revenue generating in January 2021 having launched an annual membership service. Demand surged in the US and revenues have grown 20x since then. Urban will use the funds raised to scale its member base and to provide one-to-one professional help via audio and video calls from health coaches. In addition to this, the company plans to provide health and wellness plans for larger communities through partnerships with schools and companies globally.
Anurag Ramdasan, Partner at 3one4 capital commented: “Urban health's adoption has taken off. Downloads are up and consumer spend is taking off. We're seeing a sentiment shift: globally people are prioritising their health and are open to invest in their personal wellness needs. Urban health has successfully scaled their reach globally and we are delighted to support the next phase of growth.”
Neeraj Arora, Founding Partner at Venture Highway commented: “Proud to be associated with the team since day zero, true product builders at heart. We’re committed to solving the most urgent global health problem of our times with Urban Health.”
About Urban Health
Urban Health is the world's smartest wellness assistant. Members globally use it to stress less, relax more and sleep better. Platform offers personalized wellness plans for mind, body and sleep. It uses wellness tacking, psychology, personal text based health coaching and premium recorded sessions to help people lead a healthy life.For more information please visit https://urban.health/
Contact Details
Urban Health
Bilal Mahmood
+44 7714 007257
b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com
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