The human experience in recent decades has prompted the world to look deeper into its mental health problems. The Coronavirus outbreak not only highlights the uncertainties and growing range of possibilities underpinning our present experience, but also provides another opportunity to reflect on the central place of mental health in it. Entrepreneurs and innovators have recognized this heightened importance, too.
In July, Meditopia, a mental coaching company founded in 2015, secured $15 million for its mindfulness and meditation app in series A funding round. Venture capital firm Creandum, an early backer of Spotify, and Highland Europe co-led the round. Carl Fritjofsson of Creandum joined the Meditopia board of directors to initiate this new relationship.
Meditopia uses localized, culturally specific programs
In the eyes of the entrepreneurs behind Meditopia – Fatih Çelebi, Ali Murat Ceylan and Berk Yılmaz – and their new backers, mental health will only carry greater weight in our lives in the future. As such, Meditopia will use the new funding to expand its services. Moving forward, they will focus on tailoring their services to their users’ needs by localizing and using cultural learning.
The Istanbul-Berlin based company launched its app in 2017. To tailor their product to their users’ needs, Meditopia started out with a strategy that focuses on localization and cultural variety. The platform works with professionally trained therapists and psychologists, as well as meditation experts and writers.
These professionals work around the globe, combining expertise with cultural and local knowledge. As such, they are able to develop personalized mental resilience and well-being programs for their users, taking into account their cultures, languages and countries.
Meditopia blooms in a growing niche
This has helped Meditopia amass more than 18 million users in 75 regions. Recently, it has asserted itself as the dominant competitor in non-English speaking markets. While alternatives like Headspace and Calm began much earlier, both are built largely to suit predominantly English-speaking populations. Meditopia sought to address this gap.
Instead, they seek to diversify the competition and aid new and varied demographics through their strategy of localization. Establishing teams with local heads provides Meditopia with more resources to capture nuances and cultural differences. In particular, they consider issues perceived disparately around the world, such as identity and sexuality.
“Emotions are an intimate area that has a lot to do with culture and location, so if we want to penetrate an area and increase our impact, we have to go local in what we do,” said Fritjofsson.
These teams help create content designed around specific themes, or in response to regional or worldwide events. This way, they enrich the almost 3,000 pieces of content in 10 languages on the app. These languages include Russian, Arabic, Japanese, besides Turkish, German and English.
When it comes to the user experience, the priority is giving the individual a platform to construct an introspective perspective. The focus is not only on daily and recurring goals such as improved sleep, reduced stress, and breathing, but also on longer-term, fundamental attainments like building mental resilience, and experiencing long-term healing, through the frequent practice of mindfulness and fostering bodily and mental awareness.
Mental health tech in the social media age
In addition to its focus on localization, Meditopia has found succes for another reason: social media and technology. “The social media age we have experienced has enabled users an endless focus on others,” Fritjofsson explains. “We’re now experiencing a new wave of technology which allows users to turn their focus inwards on themselves.”
Founding partner at Highland Europe, Fergal Mullen, adds: “For too long, the technology available was created for English-speaking groups alone. Meditopia provides the alternative; a solution that helps its members get to the heart of what they need in a way that suits them.”
With these market insights, Meditopia is quickly becoming one of the leading technological resources for modern mental health.
Download the Meditopia app here.
